


Serpentine

by Florville



Series: Serpentine [1]
Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Anime), Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types, Pocket Monsters: Sun & Moon | Pokemon Sun & Moon Versions
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-25
Updated: 2020-12-25
Packaged: 2021-03-11 01:08:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 23,152
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28306542
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Florville/pseuds/Florville
Summary: Professor Burnet keeps having unexpected run-ins with Team Skull Boss Guzma while she's working on Aether Paradise...but where will these encounters lead them?
Relationships: Burnet-hakase | Professor Burnet/Guzma
Series: Serpentine [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2073282
Kudos: 5





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> To all my readers, Merry Christmas! I gift you with this fic and its sequel ^_^
> 
> Notes: First off, I think this fic may need a spoiler warning? If you haven’t played through Sun/Moon/Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon to the point where you’re on Poni Island, this fic’s gonna have spoilers, so…bear that in mind. I guess that means that technically, there’s spoilers for the Sun & Moon show as well, though if you’re midway through Season 2 you should be fine. 
> 
> Now that that’s out of the way: This story is set just before Lillie steals Cosmog away from Aether Paradise. I have to confess that I honestly don’t remember how or why this pairing came to me, but once it did, I just couldn’t stop working on it. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

It was an average day on Aether Paradise, and in one of the basement labs concealed within the floating structure, Professor Burnet was absorbed in the latest stages of her project. Her exploratory work on opening and maintaining small wormholes had been successful, and now she was building a full-sized model of the machines she’d constructed in those initial trials. If everything went as planned, the larger machine would allow the Aether Foundation to generate, tag, and monitor Ultra Wormholes, allowing them to learn more about these mysterious rifts in time and space.

Unfortunately, the first test run with the full-size machine had ended in a failure, and she was pretty sure she knew why. As her gaze scanned back and forth over the data flashing by on her computer screen, Burnet sighed, her brows drawing downward as the steady line on the graph suddenly bottomed out, showed a few weak spikes, and then flatlined.

“Hmph…I _told_ Faba that those new capacitors weren’t going to be strong enough to maintain the EM field,” she muttered, shaking her head in frustration. Leaning back in her chair, she reached up to rub at the nape of her neck with both hands, kneading the tense muscles and grimacing faintly. “Why won’t he _listen_ to me?”

“Probably ‘cause Faba doesn’t hear anything that doesn’t involve his ass being kissed,” came a gruff voice from the doorway behind her. 

Startled, Burnet whirled around, shocked to find the leader of Team Skull standing in the doorway to her lab, a half-eaten Wiki berry clutched in one hand.

Leaping out of her chair, Burnet took a fighting stance, grabbing the Poké Ball clipped to her belt and holding it at the ready. “You,” she spat, her eyes—normally the colour of a pale piece of serpentine—shining a dark, vibrant green in her disgust. “What are _you_ doing here?!”

“Easy there, Bright Eyes,” Guzma purred, swallowing a mouthful of Wiki berry. “I’m not on duty while I’m here. Your little Munchlax is off the hook.”

“Answer my question, or I’ll call security,” she growled.

Guzma’s dark eyes gleamed with pleasure and he leered at her, his expression relaying clearly that he’d love nothing more than to fight her, despite what he’d just said. “I’m waiting for your boss to stop wasting my damn time,” he declared, raising the Wiki berry to his lips and taking another bite, talking around it as he chewed. “Figured if I wandered around the downstairs labs poking into her dirty laundry, she might be less likely to put me at the bottom of her priority list next time.”

“As if Lusamine would invite a scumbag like you to Aether Paradise,” Burnet spat disdainfully. “You and your goons are the reason a lot of Pokémon are in our care in the first place.”

Finishing the berry, Guzma tossed the core into a nearby trash can, then went over to the stainless steel sink to rinse the juice off of his hands. “Maybe you should think about why that is,” he said plainly, turning off the tap and grabbing some paper towels to dry his hands. “Seriously, I can’t help wondering how smart people like you can have all the evidence right in front of your face, but you never put two and two together. It’s almost like you don’t wanna see what’s really going on.”

Burnet bristled, irritated by his condescending tone. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Tossing the paper towels into the garbage, Guzma turned around, leaning back against the metal countertop and fixing the scientist with a measuring gaze. The straight lines of the overhead fluorescents were reflected in the dark lenses of his glasses (which were resting up near his hairline), the left lens a two-thirds circle that didn’t quite match the right one. Slowly, the gang leader’s lips curved into a wry smile. “You really don’t, do you?” he mused. His tone was intrigued, as though Burnet were a cute child who’d just said something insightful. Chuckling, he shook his head. “Whatever. You’re a smart girl…you’ll figure it out eventually.”

“I’m calling security,” she muttered, turning to activate her call screen.

“That won’t be necessary,” came another voice from the doorway, and Burnet was relieved to see Faba standing there when she turned around.

“Faba, I don’t know how he got here, but—”

“It’s all right, Professor Burnet,” Faba cut her off, his tone dismissive. Looking to Guzma, he sniffed, his lip curling slightly as he spoke. “Madame President will see you now.”

“About damn time,” Guzma muttered, walking past Faba and making sure that his shoulder collided with the taller man’s arm as he moved past. “Keep working hard, Bright Eyes. I hear the Boss expects great things from you,” he called over one shoulder as he turned out of sight.

“Tch,” Faba scoffed, reaching up and brushing at his sleeve as though he’d been soiled by the brief contact. Turning his gaze on Burnet again, the lean scientist narrowed his eyes slightly. “I advise you to forget that little interaction, Professor Burnet. Things will be…much _easier,_ that way.”

“And if I don’t?” she retorted, not liking the way Faba had spoken just now. It made her skin crawl.

A sneer curved Faba’s lips, and he tilted his goateed chin up haughtily. “You might find that your requisition slips don’t get filled as quickly,” he replied, his eyes glittering with a light of smug self-satisfaction. “You _do_ want your project to keep moving forward, don’t you?” Turning his back on her, he lifted a hand in a limp-wristed wave of farewell. “Now, get back to work. There’s a good girl.”

Growling, Burnet clenched her fists at her sides, not sure which of the two men disgusted her more.


	2. Chapter 2

Filling out the report on the EM field failure had taken the rest of the afternoon and most of the evening, and by the time Professor Burnet reached out to push the power button on her computer, she was thoroughly exhausted. Rubbing at her temples for a moment, she sighed and rose to her feet. 

Eight hours of sifting through the data on the failed test run had thoroughly confirmed her initial assessment. The collapse in the EM field had been caused by a cyclic drop in the power input, which was clear confirmation that the capacitors were too weak to keep the field running while the main power cycled between depleted and recharged fuel cells. The failure had also barbequed the main heat sink and some of the surrounding circuitry, so she was going to be spending the next three days repairing the damage and replacing parts. 

Thankfully, she had backup components for the circuit boards in the lab, which would save her the headache of having to submit requisitions for those parts through Faba’s department…but she’d have to request a new heat sink, and given Faba’s earlier threat, there was a strong likelihood that that particular part’s arrival would be delayed. As a scientist, Burnet was used to having to deal with nepotism and bureaucracy, but that didn’t make this situation any less frustrating.

Still, frustrating or not, it was a situation she couldn’t really deal with until tomorrow morning. And after being inside all day, she needed a good long walk outdoors before she retired for the evening. Pulling her lab coat on as a sort of makeshift windbreaker, Burnet took the elevator up to the main level, stepping outside into the open air.

The breeze coming off of the ocean instantly lifted her spirits, and she smiled as she cast her gaze upwards at the starry sky, letting the fresh air and the sound of the waves soothe her troubled mind. After a few deep breaths, the pale-haired Professor turned and walked towards the east helipad, where she could get a good view of the full moon hovering over the open sea.

As Burnet approached the helipad, which was bathed in moonlight, she noticed a lone figure seated on the railing. Apparently, she wasn’t the only one who’d come out here for some fresh air…not that she’d expected to be, of course. Aether Paradise was well-staffed, and even at this late hour, a handful of employees could usually be found wandering the main deck. 

However, when Burnet drew closer to the lone figure and saw the large white skull logo on the back of his hooded shirt, she halted, debating on whether she should just turn around and try the west helipad instead. The view from there would still be just as nice, after all…

She suddenly shook herself, her brows furrowing deeply as she clenched her fists in the pockets of her lab coat. No…she wasn’t going to change her behaviour and avoid places in Aether Paradise just because _he_ was here. She had a right to be here.

Although… 

The fact that the security team hadn’t kicked Guzma off of Aether Paradise by now suggested that he had a right to be here, as well…as did Faba’s comments when he’d come to fetch the obnoxious thug earlier that day.

 _Madame President will see you now._ The Branch Chief’s words, as well as the grudging sort of deference with which he’d uttered them, echoed in her mind.

Lips pursing slightly, Burnet considered the events that had unfolded earlier that afternoon. Given his position as Branch Chief, the fact that Faba had been sent to fetch _anyone_ was surprising, although it was probably because most of the Aether staff didn’t have the clearance to be on the lower levels. Then again, neither did Guzma…so how did he get down there?

The gears in her head were turning steadily as she walked towards the railing where the gang leader was seated. 

Why was he here? Was Lusamine trying to negotiate with him directly, as a way to try and get Team Skull to stop terrorizing wild Pokémon? It was a strange approach to take, but Lusamine _did_ tend towards the unconventional…and she wasn’t always predictable when it came to managing the Aether Foundation, either. It was highly possible that she’d taken it upon herself to bypass the police and deal with Team Skull head-on. At least, Burnet _felt_ that Lusamine’s personal mission to protect all Pokémon could motivate her to do something like that…

Of course, that raised the question of how those negotiations had gone today, and why Guzma was still here.

As Burnet drew closer, she noticed that there were bloodied handprints on the railing where he was seated, and for a moment she was frozen in place, chest tightening at the thought that he might’ve killed someone. Then, she saw the deep gashes on Guzma’s forearms, and realised that the blood was his. Based on the spacing of the wounds, it looked like something had clawed him.

Jogging up to the railing where he was seated, she looked at him sternly. “What happened to you?”

Startled by her arrival, Guzma whirled around from where he’d been looking up at the full moon, staring down at her for a long moment as if he wasn’t sure how to interpret her concern. His dark grey eyes held suspicion at first, but after a moment, his posture gradually relaxed, and his wariness gave way to a resigned and lazy amusement. “What, you’re actually worried about a ‘scumbag’ like me?”

Taken aback when he used her own words against her, Burnet bristled defensively. “Well, if there’s a violent Pokémon on the loose, it’d be a problem for more than just _you_ now, wouldn’t it?”

Guzma’s smile widened, the shadows cast by the moonlight making his sly expression look almost menacing. He kinda liked that this broad was a shitty liar. It was cute. “Guess so,” he quipped, tracing her features with his gaze for a moment before turning away to look out at the sea.

Wondering why she was even bothering to give a slimeball like him any of her time, Burnet clenched her fists in the pockets of her lab coat. “Well?”

“Why do you care, Bright Eyes?” he asked bluntly, keeping his gaze on the ocean. “You know if there was a violent ‘mon on the loose, the alarms would be going off.”

Brought up short by the words, Burnet blushed in embarrassment, her posture stiffening. “W-well, I suppose that’s true, but—” When he turned those dark grey eyes on her again, she felt exposed, and she instinctively drew her shoulders together, raising a hand to clutch at one of the lapels of her lab coat. 

A soft snicker issued from Guzma’s throat at her reaction, and he shook his head. “Sounds to me like you’re trying to be a jerk right now, but you don’t have the practice to be good at it.”

“I suppose you could teach me a thing or two in that regard,” she shot back, irritated at the way he looked down on her like she was some kind of child.

Putting a bloodied hand over the gold skull medallion resting against his heart, Guzma faked a pained expression. “Oh, that one really hurt,” he joked, grinning victoriously when she scowled and made a noise of frustration.

“I don’t get why you can’t just tell me what happened!” she growled. “If you’ve been attacked by one of the Pokémon on Aether Paradise, it should be reported!” 

His taunting smile faded slightly. For almost a full minute, Guzma gazed down into Burnet’s cool yellow-green eyes, as though he were searching the depths for something he wasn’t sure he’d find. When he finally spoke, his expression was strangely serious. “My troubles are above your pay grade, Bright Eyes. You’re better off putting ‘em out of your mind.”

“You know, I’m being told to forget a lot of things today,” Burnet muttered, annoyed by the thug’s cryptic responses.

“You’ll get used to it, sweetheart,” Guzma snickered, turning back to look up at the moon again. “It’s how things work here at Aether Paradise.” 

“And what’s that supposed to mean?”

“You’re a smart girl,” he replied with that trademark infuriating smirk. “You’ll figure it out.”

“I’m starting to think that you saying I’m a ‘smart girl’ is just your way of being an evasive boy,” she returned.

He snickered again, the expression of glib amusement on his face a strange contrast to the feral glitter in his lead-coloured eyes. “You catch on pretty quick, don’t you?”

“Ugh, forget it,” Burnet snapped, turning on her heel and walking away. 

Peering over at the scientist’s retreating back as she departed, Guzma grinned wider, deciding that he liked the plucky little broad. She was a fireball, that was for sure. And the fact that she treated him like shit because of whatever she thought she knew about him was a real turn on. He got a lot of adoration back in Po Town, so it was pretty refreshing to have a chick look at him with that kind of fire in her eyes.

“The boat’s ready,” came a curt voice from behind him, and Guzma flinched, sighing as he slid off of the railing, almost stumbling when he landed on his feet. 

“Yeah, yeah,” he muttered, sparing one last glance in Burnet’s direction before following the Aether Paradise worker down to the docks.


	3. Chapter 3

It had been three full days since the first failed test run, and Burnet had managed to get through most of her repairs. As expected, Faba’s department was taking their sweet time processing the requisition for the new heat sink. 

Worse still, her formal request for the larger capacitors had been summarily denied, and her attempts to go over Faba’s head and speak to Lusamine about it directly had been less than fruitful. In a conversation that had been interrupted by no less than six separate phone calls on two different phones, the President of the Aether Foundation repeatedly told Burnet that Faba had already spoken with her, and that a new set of capacitors (undoubtedly of the same size) was on the way. She hadn’t heard a damn thing Burnet had said.

So here she was, installing the same underpowered capacitors into the machine that she’d built, about to go through a second failed test run and make more work for herself, just to prove a point. Tossing her wrench down, she growled miserably, wiping the sweat from her brow on one forearm and shaking her head. When her companion Munchlax came over and looked up at her with a concerned expression, she smiled reassuringly, reaching out and patting him on the head. “It’s all right, Munchlax…I’m just frustrated.”

Drawing a deep breath and letting it out slowly, she shifted her hand and began to scratch behind one of Munchlax’s ears, her voice somewhat resigned as she shared her burdens with her faithful little friend. 

“Faba’s convinced President Lusamine that the reason the capacitors failed was because I haven’t set the field parameters correctly, and I _know_ that they’re correct.” Pressing her lips together in frustration, she shook her head and looked back towards the pile of charred components that overflowed from one of the nearby trash cans. “If he’d just admit that he’s wrong and get R&D to build me larger capacitors, the project could move forward…but because Lusamine is too busy to listen to me and Faba refuses to accept that I’m right, I have to fix this machine just so that I can break it again.” Looking back to Munchlax, she smiled sadly. “It’s a waste of my time and the Foundation’s resources, and that really, really bothers me.”

“Sounds like one hell of a problem,” came a familiar voice from behind her, and Burnet whirled around to scowl at Guzma, who was standing in the doorway to her lab.

The smug bastard was leaning against the doorframe, smirking down at her with his hands buried deep in the pockets of his baggy pants. From this vantage point, Burnet could see that the garish wounds on his tattooed forearms had scabbed over…and now that she was seeing them in good light, there was no doubt in her mind that they were claw marks. 

_But claw marks from what…?_ she wondered.

“Well, it isn’t a problem that can be solved with fists, so I don’t think you’ll be any help,” she muttered peevishly, rising to her feet and gripping the wrench in one hand as if she intended to use it in self-defence.

Noting her posture, Guzma grinned wildly, loving that a prominent scientist like Burnet had so much moxie. He almost _wished_ she’d take a swing at him, just so he could see her in action. “You sure about that?” he teased, jerking his chin towards the tool in her hand. “You look like you’re about to solve a problem with that wrench right now.”

A catty smirk curved Burnet’s lips, and she raised one brow slightly. “Sadly, my problem’s pretty persistent, and I don’t think that a wrench is going to get the point across.”

Guzma’s eyes narrowed, and the slate grey depths shone with perverse delight, as if the fact that she’d taken a pot shot at him was the most arousing thing in the world. “Careful, Bright Eyes,” he purred softly in warning, his wild, predatory grin revealing gleaming white teeth. “You keep bringin’ out those claws, and someday somebody’s gonna clip ‘em for ya.”

Burnet tried to ignore the strange shiver of awareness that his sensual tone sent skittering down her spine. “I’d like to see you try,” she shot back, eyes narrowing as she braced herself.

The rabid grin on Guzma’s face remained there for a few seconds as they stared each other down, the way that he’d clenched his fists in his pockets making the muscles in his forearms flex enticingly. Gradually, the manic expression on his face relaxed into something more sensuous, and he shook his head. “Hmph. You’re somethin’ else, you know that?”

“I’m busy, is what I am,” Burnet said dismissively, turning her back on him again and crouching to work on the housing bolts for one of the damaged capacitors. Maybe if she ignored him, he’d go away.

No such luck. 

After a minute or two, she realised that he was still there…and worse still, he’d come into the lab and was standing a few feet in front of her, watching her as she worked.

“Capacitors the only thing you need?” he inquired idly, as though he were making a shopping list.

Burnet frowned, keeping her gaze fixed on her work because she refused to look up at him. “I also need a new heat sink. Not that that’s any of your business.”

Guzma chuckled, making a dismissive gesture as he turned and walked towards the door. “All right, all right, I can tell when I’m not wanted.”

“I really don’t think you can,” she retorted, still not looking up from her work.

Snickering, Guzma raised a hand in an idle wave as he walked out the door. “Later.”


	4. Chapter 4

Two days later, just as Burnet was rigging up her machine for its second fatal test run, an Aether Foundation employee showed up at her door. Holding out a clipboard, he indicated that he needed her signature on a form that would approve the delivery of six new capacitors and a heat sink, scheduled for the following day. 

Rising to her feet, Burnet walked over and took the form, reading it carefully. The specifications for these new capacitors indicated that they were the larger ones she’d initially requested. More surprising still, Faba’s signature was right there on the first page of the requisition. For a moment, she looked up at the Aether employee, almost wondering if this was some kind of prank; however, when the guy just looked at her with a puzzled expression, she relaxed. 

For some reason, Faba appeared to have changed his mind, and Burnet wasn’t going to question it. She’d finally have the parts she needed, and that was all that mattered.

The delivery arrived the next day when she was halfway through teardown, and Burnet immediately set to her work with a renewed enthusiasm, bouncing around the lab with an expression of eager delight. Humming happily to herself as she hooked up one of the new capacitors to a series of leads, she walked back over to her desk and sat down at the computer, initiating a program that would test the component for internal faults. Even though they’d been built to the specifications she’d requested, she still wanted to test them before they were installed. While she doubted that Faba would ever stoop so low as to deliberately sabotage her work, his sudden change of heart had left her feeling uneasy, and a little preliminary component testing wouldn’t set her research back any further than the first undersized capacitors had already done.

Catching movement out of the corner of one eye, Burnet tensed, her smile immediately fading when she saw Guzma skulking into the lab. For some reason, his movements weren’t as snakelike as they usually were, and his right forearm was now bandaged from elbow to wrist. 

“Looks like you got your shiny new toys after all, huh?” the gang leader remarked as he leaned his good hand on the opposite side of her desk, smirking down at her like the Persian who’d swallowed the proverbial Pidgey.

Burnet remained seated, her yellow-green eyes intense as she glared up at him. “So it _was_ you.”

Guzma’s smirk widened, his voice a low, smug purr. “You’re welcome.”

“How?”

The thug’s self-satisfied expression instantly faded, and he averted his eyes as his expression darkened. “You’re better off not knowing.”

“What, did you beat him up?” Burnet snorted irritably. “I mean, it’s not like you have the people skills to _negotiate_ with a man like Faba,” she muttered.

Burnet jumped in surprise when Guzma slammed his other hand down on her desk, his dark eyes intense with displeasure as he glared down at her. “You know, there are a lot of people in this world who think you’re a pretty smart woman…but I’m gonna tell you something right now: a smart person has the sense to know what they don’t know. And you don’t know _jack_ about me.”

The Professor clenched her teeth, refusing to be intimidated. “Why would I want to?”

His eyes narrowed, their usual smugness nowhere to be seen. “You ever try your hand at running a gang, little girl? Ever try to balance a household budget when the household’s made up of two dozen little homeless punks with no jobs and nowhere else to go? You don’t know shit about me, so before you sit there making snap calls about what you think I can and can’t do, maybe you should take a second to think about the skills it takes to live my life.”

Burnet held his gaze for a long time, her fists clenched on the surface of the desk as the silence stretched out between them. After long, careful consideration, she drew a deep breath and let it out slowly, relaxing back into her chair. “I’m sorry,” she muttered.

The gang leader grunted, but said nothing.

“How did you convince Faba to have these built?”

Guzma continued to glare at her, and it was obvious that he was still pissed off about how she’d treated him. For a moment, he seemed to consider telling her, then shook his head. “I told you, Bright Eyes…you’re better off not knowing,” he muttered, straightening away from the desk and turning to leave.

“I don’t care,” Burnet declared as she jumped out of her chair and skirted around in front of him, putting herself between Guzma and the door. 

When he stopped short and didn’t move to push her out of the way, the pale-haired scientist exhaled a breath she hadn’t realised she’d been holding. She’d expected him to shove her…he _was_ a thug, after all. “Look…I don’t know if you think you’re protecting me by not telling me things, but whatever you’ve done, it’s going to have a direct effect on my work. And I’d like to be prepared for any repercussions that might arise as a result of that interference.” Her gaze was intent as she watched him, her voice lowering slightly. “The fact that Faba was petty enough to delay my research progress in the first place suggests that he might not be above retaliation for whatever you’ve done to…persuade him.”

Guzma lifted his head and gazed into her eyes, soaking up the passion and conviction that radiated from every line of her body. One of the reasons he loved to come down here and bother her was that he loved her intensity, as well as that trademark ‘oblivious researcher’ innocence. And she was utterly beautiful, too, in a way that set her apart from all the other broads who worked here. 

Plus…if he was being completely honest, seeing her was a way to steady himself when he was here, because it reminded him that Lusamine’s poisonous corruption hadn’t trickled down through every rank of the organization yet. Knowing that people like Professor Burnet worked here was proof that there were still people at Aether who might eventually figure out what was really going on behind the scenes…and that maybe, just maybe, somebody would put a stop to it before their psycho boss opened up a wormhole and kick-started the Apocalypse. 

Still…Burnet was right about Faba. That guy was a Grade-A asshole, and while Guzma was certain that the dirt he had on him would keep the bastard from fucking with her, it might be a good idea to drop a subtle hint so that she knew enough to keep herself safe. 

“Research isn’t the only reason a creep like him keeps psychic Pokémon around,” he offered. “I just threatened to bring his _extracurricular activities_ to your boss’ attention.”

Burnet frowned, wondering what Faba’s psychic Pokémon had to do with any of this. “I don’t understand.”

“I’m sure you don’t, Bright Eyes,” he replied curtly, his dark eyes still intensely serious. “And I’m not explaining it to you. Guess that’s your homework for the day.” Lifting his un-bandaged forearm, which still sported a set of barely-healed lacerations, he checked his watch. “Now you’d better let me go, or I’m gonna catch shit.”

Frowning, Burnet remained where she was standing for a few seconds longer before nodding and moving to one side. As he passed her, she expected to catch the scent of sweat and grime from whatever bridge people like him tended to sleep under…but she didn’t. He smelled the way that the spring air smelled when a storm was about to break.

And she didn’t quite know what to make of that.


	5. Chapter 5

During her lunch break, Burnet found herself sitting at her computer, idly scanning through articles on the abilities of Psychic Pokémon and wondering why in the hell she was giving Guzma’s words any credence. 

Why did it even matter? She’d gotten her capacitors…couldn’t she just leave it at that?

Halfway through lifting a mug of coffee to her lips, Burnet suddenly stopped scrolling, her heart missing a beat when she caught sight of an unusual headline.

_Missing HopHopHop Town Children Located, Psychic Pokémon Seized_

Feeling a sliver of unease burrow into the pit of her stomach, Burnet clicked on the link, setting her coffee mug aside as she began to read.

_Poké Press—HopHopHop Town_

_A local chapter of the Pokémon Lover’s Club has been disbanded after the group’s activities were identified as the cause of recent disappearances and strange lethargic behaviour in groups of local Pokémon. Found to be using a recently evolved Hypno to treat insomnia among the Club’s members, this wealthy group of eccentrics was tracked to their rooftop mansion by Officer Jenny, with the help of three young travelers hailing from Pallet Town, Pewter City, and Cerulean City. The missing children, found to be suffering from Pokémon-itis as a result of the Hypno’s wide-ranging sleep waves, were found unharmed in a local park. After being cured with counteractive psychic waves from the Club’s Drowzee, the missing children were all returned safely to their parents._

_As a result of their co-operation in the investigation, this local arm of the Pokémon Lover’s Club will not be facing any charges; however, the group’s status as an official branch of the PLC has now been revoked, and the group has been disbanded. The Psychic Pokémon seized during the investigation have been placed in the care of the Aether Foundation until a decision regarding their care can be reached._

As she re-read that last sentence, a cold wash of goose bumps coursed over her skin, and she turned away from the screen. A Hypno…seized and placed in the care of the Aether Foundation.

…Faba’s Hypno…?

She glanced back at the computer, eyes fixing on the photograph in the article. It was difficult to tell, based on a single photograph, whether the Hypno in the news story was the same one that now traveled at Faba’s side. But if it was, that raised the question of why he’d chosen _that_ particular Hypno to be his partner.

_I advise you to forget that little interaction, Professor Burnet. Things will be…much easier, that way._

Burnet shuddered in revulsion as Faba’s words of warning danced through her mind, and she turned to grab a socket wrench, deciding that it was time to return to her work. However, the more she tried to focus on installing the newly arrived components, the more Guzma’s words of warning began to echo in her head, as well. 

_Research isn’t the only reason a creep like him keeps psychic Pokémon around._

She shook her head sharply, as if the motion could dislodge the unsettling words from her mind. Picking up a digital torque wrench, she used it to tighten down each of the housing bolts until they were at the proper specs.

_I just threatened to bring his extracurricular activities to your boss’ attention…_

Burnet clenched her teeth, rising to her feet and moving over to the other side of the machine, crouching next to the second bank of capacitors. It was obvious that Guzma hadn’t wanted to let that information slip…as though he’d wanted to protect her from the knowledge that Psychic Type Pokémon could be used for something other than battling…something perverse. Like he’d wanted to preserve her innocence. 

But if that was the case, why say anything at all? Why not just keep being evasive, like he usually was?

The pale-haired Professor shivered again, glancing out the doorway towards the security camera in the hall. Absently, she wondered how easy it might be for someone in Faba’s position to have security footage erased. 

It was a line of inquiry she really didn’t want to contemplate right now.

Sighing, Burnet looked down at the tool in her hands. _He dropped the hint so that you’d know enough to stay away from him._

That thought made her pause, and she sat back on her heels, letting her eyes roam over the contours of the machine in front of her. _But why? Why does he even care what happens to me? He doesn’t know me, and it’s not like I’ve given him any reason to treat me kindly…_ As she sat there, the realisation suddenly struck her that outside of the rumours she’d heard about his gang, she really didn’t know much about Guzma at all.

And regardless of how he’d done it, he _had_ convinced Faba to give her the new capacitors, and that act alone had probably saved her another week’s work. But what could his motivations be for doing something like that? She certainly hadn’t given him any reason to be kind to her, and it wasn’t like a gang lord was going to have any interest in her work on Ultra Wormholes… 

Or did he…? And what was with the way he acted around her? He was a thug, and yet the way he behaved towards her was almost…well…chivalrous (both in the sense that it was sexist and outdated, and also in the sense that he seemed to have a genuine interest in protecting her from something he wasn’t willing to talk about). Was that how all gang leaders behaved? Or was it possible that Guzma’s reputation as a cruel, heartless beast was more rumour than reality? 

Burnet suddenly tossed the torque wrench aside with a noise of disgust. “Ugh, why do I even _want_ to know anything about him?!” she cried out, ruffling her own hair in frustration. “He’s a thug and a criminal, and he runs a gang that beats up wild Pokémon. Even if he _had_ any redeeming qualities, it’s not like any of them would make up for that!” She glared down at the floor, her expression softening when Munchlax wandered into her field of vision and looked up at her questioningly. 

Smiling a little, Burnet reached out and ruffled her partner’s fur, shaking her head and sighing. “He isn’t a good man, Munchlax, so why on earth do I feel compelled to find out more about him?”

Leaning into her touch, Munchlax looked up at her as though the answer was obvious. “Munchlax munch.”

Burnet’s hand stilled, brows quirking in surprise at the straightforward reply.

_Because you’re a scientist._

She bit her lower lip, a swell of guilt rising inside of her as she considered the implications of that statement. A scientist…someone who was driven to learn about the world through research and experimentation. Someone who gathered data, and then looked at that data carefully so that they could draw inferences and make informed conclusions. Someone who didn’t go off half-cocked based on hearsay.

_A smart person has the sense to know what they don’t know. And you don’t know jack about me._

She cringed as she recalled Guzma’s words, embarrassed that nothing about the way she’d treated him had ever been based on personal observations or on hard evidence. Everything she knew about him, and everything she knew about Team Skull, she’d heard second-hand. 

But even if she wanted to base the way that she responded to him on hard evidence, what information could she possibly gather? She couldn’t just call up Officer Jenny and ask about his criminal record over a cup of tea. And she certainly couldn’t go up to a member of Team Skull and ask probing questions about their boss.

Ever since she’d met Guzma, every interaction she’d ever had with him had been brief, because nearly every time they’d crossed paths, it had been while he was waiting for a meeting with Lusamine. And it wasn’t as if the next time she saw him, she could just ask him a bunch of questions…he’d probably get pretty suspicious if she did something like that. Plus, based on pattern, he wouldn’t be forthcoming about what she’d asked him, anyway.

“You’re right, Munchlax,” she sighed, lifting the Pokémon into her lap and holding him close. “I haven’t been approaching this situation very scientifically at all.” Stroking the pads of her thumbs against her partner’s coat, she pursed her lips, thoroughly perplexed. “Still…even if I wanted to, I’m at a loss for to how to learn anything about him. I mean, we only ever see each other for a few minutes at a time. How can I possibly gather evidence to determine the kind of person he is with such a short window of opportunity?”

“Lax munch munch! Munch lax,” the little Pokémon replied, waving its stubby arms enthusiastically.

Blinking down at him, Burnet smiled brightly, utterly delighted by her partner’s suggestion. “Munchlax, you’re a _genius._ ”


	6. Chapter 6

The night was cool, a lively breeze coming off of the ocean and ruffling the tails of Burnet’s lab coat as she wandered onto the main deck, idly searching for Guzma and wondering if he was even present on Aether Paradise that evening. It wasn’t like she could go asking around…based on Faba’s creepy warning, she wasn’t even supposed to know that he’d been here in the first place.

Her heart was beating like the wings of an agitated Spearow, and it felt as though a dozen tiny Butterfree had taken up residence in her stomach. She didn’t really have much experience with what she was about to do, but that wasn’t going to stop her. She wanted to know more about Guzma, and because the gang leader seemed to take pleasure from being evasive, this was probably the only way she’d ever get past that thuggish surface.

If everything she’d heard about his gang was true, Guzma wouldn’t be a very strong Trainer. Team Skull was composed mostly of young men and women who’d failed out of the Island Challenge, and she knew from speaking with Kahuna Hala that Guzma had never completed it, either. She also knew that Guzma didn’t wear a Z-ring, which meant that he was restricted to a standard moveset, just like she was. Even so, she really had no way to tell how much additional training the gang leader might’ve done in the years since he’d walked away from the Island Challenge…so Guzma’s experience level was truly an unknown variable here.

Looking down at her partner as they walked across the east helipad together, Burnet quirked a brow. “Are you sure about this, Munchlax?” she murmured.

The little Pokémon looked up at her and smiled brightly, his snaggle teeth gleaming in the moonlight. “Lax lax.”

Bolstered by her partner’s confidence, the Professor smiled. “All right,” she acknowledged with a firm nod, eyes narrowing when she looked out towards the ocean and caught sight of a familiar form seated on the far railing. “Let’s do this, then.”

Guzma had been sitting out on the deck for almost an hour, his mood progressively growing more and more sour as he waited for his escort to show up. Of course, he knew why Lusamine did this shit…it was to put him in his place. To show him that _she_ was the one in control, and that she’d call for him when she was damn well ready. And based on the last few times he’d been here, he’d begun to suspect that she made him wait this long so he’d have time to brood over what she was about to do to him. 

He was startled out of that dark avenue of thought when a throat cleared softly behind him. Whirling around with a low snarl, Guzma relaxed when he saw Professor Burnet standing there, looking a bit startled herself. Lifting his bandaged arm and rubbing awkwardly at the short, dark hair at the back of his head, the gang leader forced a smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes. “Hey there, Bright Eyes,” he muttered, lowering his hand and gazing at her. The light of the waning moon gleamed off of her pure white tresses, the hue reminiscent of the pearly shimmer on a moth’s wing. And despite how dark his mood had gotten since he’d come out here, her presence was soothing…it somehow took the edge off of the sick, uneasy feeling in his gut.

“Munchlax and I would like to battle you,” she declared firmly, gazing up at him where he sat.

Guzma’s brows shot up, and he stared at her as though she’d grown another head. “Come again?”

Burnet set her jaw and tilted her chin up slightly, her tone resolute. “A Pokémon battle. One round, one Pokémon each. You and me.”

The gang leader smirked, sliding off of the railing and leering at her as he slipped his hands into his pockets. The stance radiated smugness, and his grey eyes gleamed with thinly veiled amusement. “I heard that part. I’m just wondering if you hit your head or something.”

Burnet’s eyes narrowed, but she said nothing.

When the Professor’s only response was to stare at him with that same determined expression, Guzma realised that she was serious, and the grin faded from his face. Glancing down at the Munchlax beside her, he frowned, then looked back up into Burnet’s eyes again. “You sure you wanna pit that little guy against me?”

“I’m hearing a lot of talk, Guzma,” Burnet returned impatiently, scared that if he talked any more, she might lose her nerve. “Do you want to battle me or not?”

Surprised when she used his name, Guzma scrutinized her carefully, then smirked, drawing a Poké Ball out of his pocket and tossing it into the air a few times. “All right, Bright Eyes,” he purred, turning to walk across the helipad so they’d be spaced appropriately for the fight. “You got guts, I’ll give ya that much,” he called over his shoulder as he went.

“Still hearing a lot of talk,” she called back with a note of false bravado, taking a stance as she waited for him to turn around and reveal the ‘mon he’d just chosen. 

She didn’t have to wait long. In a flash of red light, an enormous Golisopod emerged from Guzma’s Poké Ball, and he dropped into a squat behind it, his gold skull pendant glinting in the moonlight as it swayed back and forth.

Golisopod…a Bug and Water type. Fortunately, her Munchlax, as a Normal Type, wasn’t particularly vulnerable to any of the moves this creature was most likely to use. Moreover, if Munchlax scored a critical hit, she might be able to trigger the Golisopod’s special ability, Emergency Exit, which would cause it to retreat from the battle and force Guzma into switching Pokémon. And since they’d agreed on a one ‘mon battle, the retreat would result in an automatic win for her. 

She’d have to go in full-blast, and hope for the best.

“Munchlax, use Body Slam!” she called, motioning towards Guzma’s Golisopod.

Her little ‘mon leapt into the air, colliding with the larger Pokémon and then bouncing back. The hulking creature staggered from the impact, then shook itself off, its dark eyes narrowing as it stepped forward again. It had taken damage from the hit, that much was certain…but it hadn’t been enough. 

“Use First Impression,” Guzma ordered, motioning towards Burnet and her ‘mon with a lazy wave of his hand.

With one swipe of its massive clawed forearm, the Golisopod sent Munchlax flying, and Burnet’s heart dropped into her stomach when her partner bounced across the helipad like a skipping stone, then came to rest at her feet, completely still.

“Munchlax!” she cried, dropping to her knees and gently resting a hand on Munchlax’s side. He was alive and breathing, but he’d obviously fainted. Cringing, she pulled out her Poké Ball, drawing the creature back inside with a few soft words of apology and a gentle reassurance that he’d done a good job.

Rising to her feet, she looked over to where Guzma was, slipping the Poké Ball back into the pocket of her lab coat. She’d expected him to be standing there gloating at her…but his attention wasn’t on her at all. He was completely engaged in tending to his Pokémon, focused on it as though it were the only thing in his world.

The Golisopod had rested one of its huge claws against Guzma’s side, and its head was lowered to just below the level of its Trainer’s chin. It was lapping up yellow powder from a piece of pale red paper that he held out in his right hand, its small upper legs curled almost tenderly around Guzma’s bandaged forearm. The gang leader’s left hand was stroking affectionately at the bug’s thick hide, his lips moving as he spoke to it in a voice that was too soft for Burnet to hear.

As she walked towards him, she realised that the substance in his outstretched hand was Energy Powder…a bitter medicinal powder that could significantly restore the health of an injured Pokémon. At first, she was surprised that Guzma even carried it…but as she drew close enough to observe the towering creature, the numerous signs of its good health immediately became apparent to her well-trained eye. 

The pure white areas of the Golisopod’s carapace glowed in the moonlight, the lustrous violet curves of its long antennae twitching frequently in response to subtle variations in the surrounding air. And as it finished lapping up the powder, it leaned into Guzma’s touch, nuzzling its face into the front of his white cotton shirt with a low churr of contentment. It was a level of affection that she wasn’t used to seeing Bug Pokémon exhibit.

“Your little friend packs a punch,” Guzma said with a wry smirk as Burnet approached, and he patted firmly at the curve of Golisopod’s upper back as he spoke. “Keep training him up and maybe someday we can have a _real_ battle.”

Burnet ignored the playful jab, stopping a few steps away from him and letting her eyes roam the Golisopod’s form. “You’re ruthless,” she observed flatly.

Guzma’s smirk instantly disappeared and he whirled on her, grey eyes darkening with anger. “Why? Because I’m not stupid enough to draw out the battle and get his ass hurt?”

Instantly responding to the shift in his Trainer’s tone, Golisopod rose to its full height, growling as it fixed Burnet with an intense glare.

It wasn’t the reaction she’d expected. She’d thought that Guzma would turn the words around on her, or just sneer and brush them off like he usually did. Instead, he’d just revealed something else about the kind of Trainer he was. Gazing up at the massive Pokémon, Burnet smiled, a hand resting on her hip. “You know, he’s a gorgeous specimen…one of the healthiest I’ve ever seen.”

Instantly on guard, the gang leader shoved himself between Burnet and Golisopod, holding his arms out like a bodyguard. “Don’t you even _think_ about putting him on one of your damned dissection tables!” he snarled.

Startled by the words and by Guzma’s sudden aggression, Burnet took a step back, her expression dismayed as she looked into his dark eyes, surprised at the hate that had risen in them. “Dissection tables?” she echoed softly, her pale brows immediately drawing downward. “I’d never do something like that! Why would you even say that?”

Guzma tensed as though he’d slipped up, but he said nothing, remaining where he was.

Burnet’s pale serpentine eyes narrowed slightly, darkening with concern when the gang leader didn’t immediately respond to her question. “Guzma…” she murmured, “…vivisection isn’t just unethical, it’s also highly illegal. I don’t understand why you’d accuse me of something so horrible.”

In the brief moment before he suddenly averted his gaze, Burnet realised that it hadn’t just been hatred that she’d seen in his eyes just then…there was also a thinly restrained veil of fear. The realisation made her stomach twist, because a tiny part of her wondered how that fear had gotten there.

Guzma clenched his teeth, cursing inwardly. Forcing himself to relax, he drew a deep breath and exhaled slowly, lowering his arms to his sides. “Sorry,” he muttered, lifting his head when Golisopod nuzzled the back of his shoulder, turning to stroke the bug’s hide reassuringly. “You’re right…you’re not the kind of person who’d do that shit.”

Again, Guzma’s words sent a flutter of unease through Burnet’s stomach, and she watched as the gang leader shifted his hand down to rub under Golisopod’s chin, the massive bug’s whisker-like feelers wriggling in delight. 

“Did someone at Aether threaten to do that to him?”

He flinched at the soft question, but his voice was dismissive when he spoke. “I told you, Bright Eyes…my troubles are above your pay grade.”

The confirmation was harrowing, and Burnet lowered her gaze, feeling sick to her stomach. She didn’t know why she believed him…Arceus knew that she certainly didn’t _want_ to. The thought that a researcher at Aether would say something so horrible, let alone follow through with such a threat…it made her feel physically ill. But it was data that she’d have to contemplate at a later time, because she knew that she didn’t have much longer before this brief interaction drew to a close.

“Does he like Poké Beans?” she asked softly, turning her troubled gaze up to the Golisopod’s face, wondering how anyone could willingly cause pain to such a beautiful creature.

Surprised by the question, Guzma glanced back over his shoulder at her, seeing the expression on her face and kicking himself soundly. Burnet’s innocent earnestness was one of the things that made her so attractive to him, and damaging that had never been his intent. “Yeah,” he replied, keeping one hand on top of Golisopod’s head as he slowly shifted to one side.

Reaching into one of the pockets on her lab coat, Burnet withdrew a clear bag with a dark blue patterned bean inside, opening the package and placing the item on her open palm. Pocketing the empty bag, she looked to Guzma, the worry that mingled with the sadness in her eyes making her look far younger than she actually was. “Is it okay for me to touch him?”

Seeing that sad, hesitant expression on Burnet’s face was like a gut punch, and Guzma clenched his teeth, feeling like an absolute heel. Slowly, he nodded in response to her question. “Go ahead.”

Reassured, the pale-haired Professor turned back to Guzma’s Pokémon, holding the patterned bean out to him and smiling when the Golisopod’s antennae pricked in evident curiosity. “Here you go, big guy,” she coaxed. “This should take away the taste of that nasty Energy Powder, hm?”

The creature’s muzzle curved into a delighted smile as it leaned forward and took a bite of the Poké Bean, emitting a low churr of contentment. Burnet laughed softly at the sound, slowly raising her hand to stroke Golisopod’s head, the tips of her fingers brushing lightly against Guzma’s.

The gang leader jerked his hand away as if he’d been burned, a hint of colour rising on his cheeks as Burnet turned an amused gaze on him for a few seconds, then returned her attention to his Pokémon.

“He’s such a handsome boy,” she purred as the beast took another bite of the Poké Bean, its whiskers brushing against her skin and making her laugh softly. “And strong, too. I’ll bet you turn heads whenever you’re together, huh?”

Guzma’s brows rose slightly at the words, because it wasn’t exactly clear whether she was talking to Golisopod, or to him. Shaking himself, he looked away, feeling his cheeks flush a little more as he scolded himself for being an idiot, telling himself that _obviously_ she was talking to him.

Intrigued by the way Guzma blushed awkwardly and looked away, Burnet continued to stroke the bug’s hide as it licked the last crumbs of the Poké Bean from her palm. The smooth, probing movements of her fingertips revealed that his carapace, which had initially appeared smooth in the moonlight, was actually pitted and gouged with numerous scars—tactile proof of this creature’s extensive battle experience. It suggested that this Golisopod might actually be Guzma’s primary fighter, which revealed more about his character than a month’s worth of conversations could have divulged.

Bug types were weak to seven different types of Pokémon, three of which were super effective against it. To commit to training a Bug Pokémon to this level took a great deal of conviction, and no small amount of devotion. Moreover, Golisopod evolved from Wimpod, a Pokémon that was notorious for retreating from battle when it got hurt. To have trained one through to its evolution would have taken an incredible amount of patience…

“Have you been with Guzma ever since you were a little Wimpod?” she cooed, pleased when the Golisopod placed one of its small upper arms into her palm and nodded happily. 

“Hey—” Guzma grunted, annoyed that she was asking questions of his Pokémon, who was too unassuming to lie to her.

“Mm, then you must’ve been the toughest, bravest Wimpod of them all,” Burnet purred, curling her fingers gently around the claw that was resting in her hand, feeling the solid texture of it and marveling once again at the creature’s good health. “Is that why he chose you to be his partner?”

Antennae perking, the Golisopod lifted its head slightly and looked down at her, then glanced over at Guzma curiously, as if it wasn’t sure why it had been chosen from among all of the other Wimpods of the world.

That questioning gaze made Guzma blush like a flustered teenager, and he pulled the Pokéball out of his pocket, holding it out. “All right, big guy, that’s enough flirting,” he muttered. “Return.”

The Golisopod vanished into the Pokéball in a streak of red light, and Guzma shoved it into his pocket. “You go plying my bugs for information like that and I’m not gonna bring ‘em out to play any more, Bright Eyes.”

Burnet laughed at the petulant declaration, her jewel-like eyes shining with amusement. “Oh? Are you worried that the rest of them will be just as flirty?”

Slouching his shoulders like a turtle pulling its head into its shell, Guzma kept his gaze averted, his posture radiating irritability. “Don’t usually have that problem,” he muttered.

“I see,” she mused, unable to stop smiling now. “Well, I’m not the type to elope with a Bug Pokémon I’ve just met, so I think you can relax, Dad.”

Blinking, Guzma turned to look at her, his expression confused for a moment before it dawned on him that she’d actually told a joke. Not only that…the loathing and disdain that she’d regarded him with since the day they’d met had vanished from her eyes at some point in the last few minutes. In their place was something that he thought might be respect, and maybe even a touch of something kinder…and where her eyes had been stunning in their disdain, the softer emotions that showed through in them now made them utterly breathtaking. 

Damn, if he only had the time to stand here and let her keep looking at him like that…

Unfortunately, he could already see his ‘handler’ stepping out onto the main deck from the corner of one eye, and if he delayed for even a moment longer, the bullshit he was going to go through with Lusamine was only going to get worse. “I have to go,” he said abruptly, whirling on his heel and walking towards the Aether lackey who’d been sent to escort him into the bowels of hell.

Startled by the sudden departure, Burnet watched him as he walked away, the skull logo on the back of his hooded black shirt rippling as he moved. She’d been wrong about him…even if he was a thug, there was a profound depth to his character that she hadn’t anticipated uncovering. And everything that she’d learned about him in the last fifteen minutes had only made her want to learn more. She needed to know why he was here…what Lusamine wanted from him…and why every time he came to her lab, he seemed to be sporting new injuries.

Burnet bit her lower lip, debating for a moment before pulling an envelope out of her pocket, writing something on the back of it before running after Guzma. “Wait!!” she called out, relieved when he paused and looked back. Stopping in front of him, she held the envelope out, face up, so he wouldn’t see what she’d penned on the back of it right away. “Here.”

Looking down at the envelope, Guzma smirked and reached out to take it. “Customary payout for winning, huh?” he observed, snickering when she nodded and then walked away. He moved to tear the envelope open, one brow rising slightly when he noticed that something was written across the back of it. Puzzled, he contemplated the five digits she’d written down, his entire body tensing when he realised what she’d given him.

It was an access code for the basement level of Aether Paradise.

Eyes widening, Guzma looked back at the retreating scientist in astonishment, swallowing hard. Committing the code to memory, he pulled the money out of the envelope, pocketed it, and crumpled the envelope into a ball. As he jogged towards the Aether employee who’d been assigned to be his escort, he tossed the crumpled envelope over the railing, into the sea.


	7. Chapter 7

Having healed her Munchlax at the reception desk on the main level before returning to her quarters, Burnet flitted around the minimalist apartment that served as her home when she was working at Aether Paradise. As she cooked up one of her trademark “high-speed” meals, she could still feel her body buzzing with adrenaline, and some of the moments from her battle with Guzma continued to play through her mind as though they were the scenes from a favourite movie.

She couldn’t stop picturing the gentle way that the Golisopod had curled its legs around Guzma’s bandaged forearm, and how it had affectionately pressed its face into his t-shirt like it was an oversized Meowth. That loving behaviour had been genuine, and it wasn’t something she’d expect from a Bug Pokémon that hadn’t been shown a similar level of kindness. She’d seen glimpses of that affection from Guzma, too…in the way he’d stroked the Golisopod’s hide, and the way he’d rubbed under its chin…

Burnet continued to ponder the things she’d learned about Guzma as she stepped into the shower later that evening, sighing in pleasure as the hot water coursed over her skin. When the battle had ended, she’d called him ‘ruthless’ because she’d assumed the one-hit K.O. had been an attempt to demoralize her, to show her how grossly outmatched she’d been from the start. But he’d reacted to that comment with genuine offense…as though the implication that he’d use his Pokémon to inflict unnecessary cruelty was completely out of line with how he saw himself. Which was strange…after all, she would’ve thought that ruthlessness was a quality that gangsters aspired to.

As she stepped out of the shower and wrapped a clean towel around her naked body, Burnet leaned back against the wall for a moment, the hum of the overhead fan providing a steady background noise as the gears in her head continued to turn. 

How could a man who possessed the kindness and patience to train a cowardly little Wimpod into such a powerful, affectionate Golisopod take pleasure from inflicting pain on other Pokémon? It didn’t make sense.

 _Because that’s what bullies do,_ she thought idly. But as she stood there, she forced herself to consider other possibilities.

As she lifted a hand towel to clear some of the steam from the bathroom mirror, something Guzma had said to her on the day they’d met suddenly came back to her. 

_I’m not on duty while I’m here._

Duty…what did that mean? Her hand stilled on the mirror, and as she gazed into the perplexed features of her own reflection, she tried to recall what else he’d said during that brief encounter. She’d been so startled by his presence on Aether Paradise that she hadn’t really been focusing on anything that came out of his mouth, and perhaps she should’ve been. She knew that she’d made a comment about him being the reason so many injured Pokémon were at Aether Paradise in the first place…

 _Maybe you should think about why that is._ Hadn’t that been what Guzma had said?

Toweling off and then slipping into a tank top and a pair of cotton sleep shorts, Burnet dried her hair and brushed her teeth before turning off the lights. Padding into her bedroom, she sighed as that particular line of thought failed to turn up anything useful. Putting it on the back burner for now, she slipped under the covers and snuggled in against one of the pillows. 

As she closed her eyes, her mind drifted back to the abrupt way that Guzma had left when that Aether employee had shown up…as though Guzma were a dog that had just been called to heel.

Something about that had really bothered her…

Nuzzling deeper into the pillow, she tried to push the image from her mind. She needed sleep if she was going to get any work done tomorrow.

_Madame President will see you now._

Her clear serpentine eyes slipped open again, drifting over the beautiful spill of stars just beyond her bedroom window. The day that they’d met, Guzma had been waiting for a meeting with Lusamine. That was a fact, based on Faba’s comments when he’d come to fetch Team Skull’s leader from the lower levels. And when she’d run into Guzma on the helipad that night, he’d had wounds on his arms that certainly hadn’t been there earlier that day. Marks that appeared to be from claws…

Sitting up slowly, Burnet gazed down at the blankets, a frown creasing her elegant features. Had Lusamine put him in a situation that caused those wounds? And had she done it deliberately?

Immediately, Burnet shook her head. Ridiculous. The President of the Aether Foundation was eccentric, certainly…but there was a big difference between eccentricity and violence. And even if Lusamine was capable of inflicting violence on Guzma—who, to be fair, did run a gang that hurt the wild Pokémon she was trying to protect—why would the gang leader keep coming back for more punishment?

Brushing that line of thought away as though it were an errant feather that had landed on her skin, Burnet laid back down, curling into her pillow with a soft sigh.

Slowly, her breaths began to even out, and her mind drifted back to the battle she’d had with Guzma. The way he’d blushed and averted his gaze when her hand had brushed against his…the way Golisopod had rested its arm against Guzma’s side…the way the massive Pokémon had purred and leaned into his touch…and the way Guzma had pushed himself between them like a bodyguard… 

Burnet’s eyes slipped open again, her frown gradually returning. 

Guzma had been legitimately afraid when he’d stood between them like that…but why? And when she’d asked him if someone at Aether had actually threatened to cut open his Golisopod and experiment on it while it was still alive, why hadn’t he answered her?

Sitting up with a shudder and rubbing at her bare arms, Burnet looked over at the digital clock on the bedside table and saw that it was 12:07am. She sighed and shook her head, giving up the ghost on getting any sleep for the next little while. 

And if she couldn’t sleep, then she may as well be working.


	8. Chapter 8

Burnet’s steps echoed off the walls of the basement level as she headed towards her lab, her elegant hands tucked into the pockets of her labcoat. On the rare nights that she did have trouble sleeping, she actually didn’t mind coming down here to work…it was quiet on the lower levels at night, and that solitude could be good for a little brainstorming.

Suddenly noticing a series of ghostly crimson smears on the nearby wall, Burnet frowned. Her eyes drifted down to the floor, where a trail of intermittent red splatters led all the way down the hall towards the door of her lab…which was open.

Icy claws closed around her heart as she broke into a run, swinging through the open door of the lab and slapping at the wall to turn on the lights. When the overhead fluorescents flickered on, the sight they revealed made her breath hitch.

Guzma, who had dragged himself into the lab and slumped against the side of her desk, looked like he’d been mauled. One lens of the strange glasses he always wore on his forehead was shattered, streaks of dried blood running down from where fragments of the broken glass had embedded in his skin. Parts of his clothing were ripped, almost shredded, and every tear was soaked through with blood. On the right side of his neck, one massive claw mark stretched from the side of his jaw down to his collarbone, and a gruesome bite mark on his left forearm was still dripping crimson beads into a puddle on the floor.

Burnet rushed to his side, and the thought that he’d died alone on the floor of her lab drew a soft, pained noise from her throat. Dropping to her knees beside him, she grabbed his face, cursing softly at the scalding heat of the sweat-dampened skin beneath her palms. When Guzma’s bleary eyes fluttered open, revealing slightly dilated pupils, her suspicion that he was suffering from the initial effects of a Poison type’s venom were immediately confirmed. 

“Guzma,” she said his name firmly, holding his head steady between her hands as she tried to call him back from the brink.

“Hey, Bright Eyes,” he rasped weakly, his voice heavy with pain and exhaustion. 

Relieved, Burnet looked to her desk drawer, where she kept a set of potions and antidotes, some of them for Pokémon, but the majority of them for treating mishaps that might occur while dealing with their injuries. Mishaps like poisoning. 

Turning back to her charge and guiding his head back slightly, Burnet gently pulled one of his eyelids back, inspecting the colour underneath. “Guzma,” she called again, giving his head a gentle shake as she tried to get him to focus on her. “Stay with me. You need to tell me what happened to you.”

When his only response was to close his eyes and lean into her touch, she cursed again. “I’ll call a Medic—”

“No!” Guzma growled, suddenly grabbing her by the wrist, his pale features surprisingly intense. “If she finds out you helped me, she’ll go even more psycho…” Grimacing, he released her arm and then reached into his pocket, shakily pulling out a handful of Poké balls. “Fix my team…”

“What?!” she cried, utterly astonished that he could be thinking of his Pokémon at a time like this. “Guzma, you can’t be—”

“Fix them!” he snarled, his unfocused grey eyes as wild as those of a cornered animal. “She took everything off me and I can’t help them!” He pushed the Pokéballs into her hand with bloodstained fingers that were visibly trembling. 

Burnet’s lips tightened into a thin line, and she huffed faintly. “Fine,” she growled, taking his Poké Balls and shoving them into the pockets of her lab coat as she rose to her feet. Hauling one of the desk drawers open, she pulled out a vial of antidote, loading it into a spring-release injector gun and crouching next to him again. “But you’re getting a dose of antidote before I go.”

Pressing the tip of the injector to the side of his left thigh, she braced her free hand against his shoulder and pulled the trigger, feeling his body jerk against her palm. She wanted to deal with his wounds before she took his Pokémon up to the main level, but she knew the stupid ass wasn’t going to let her. “Don’t bleed out while I’m gone,” she growled.

The faintest suggestion of a smirk fluttered at the corner of Guzma’s mouth, and with that small confirmation that he’d heard her words, Burnet was gone.


	9. Chapter 9

Tugging a pair of rubber gloves out of the inside pocket of her lab coat, Burnet pulled them on as she rode up the elevator, taking off towards the main entrance at a run. The reception desks were currently unmanned, and she skirted around the closest one, yanking the tray out and putting the four bloodstained Poké Balls into the slots. Turning on the computer, she ran the rest and recovery program, the colour slowly draining out of her face as she scanned through the data that came up on the screen.

Burned…frozen…paralyzed…poisoned…every possible status condition a Pokémon could present with, she was seeing it here. Mere hours ago, Guzma had revealed to her an unwillingness to recklessly compromise the safety of his Pokémon in battle, and now, he’d just handed her a team that had been taken halfway to hell and back. 

“What in the name of Arceus were you fighting?” she murmured, her heart aching at the evidence of how much these Pokémon had suffered.

He’d had Golisopod, Masquerain, Pinsir, and Vikavolt with him…and every last one of them had fainted—including Golisopod—which meant that whatever he’d been up against, Guzma had been up against the wall, forced to battle to the bitter end.

As soon as the program finished running, Burnet grabbed the Poké Balls out of the tray and stuffed them back into her pockets, grabbing moist towelettes from a container on the desk and using them to wipe down the keyboard, monitor and tray. Taking off towards the elevator at a run, she stuffed the soiled towelettes and gloves into her pocket, stepping onto the elevator and keying in the access code for the lower levels.

By the time she reached Guzma’s side, the pale-haired thug had passed out, and she frantically felt for a pulse, exhaling a short breath of relief when she felt a sluggish, steady beat against her fingertips. 

Reaching to the Poké Ball on her belt, Burnet felt around beside it, unclipping the small vial that was fastened there…an item she’d carried with her since she was a little girl. Inside the vial were scales from Tapu Lele, the Guardian of Akala Island, which were reputed to have miraculous healing properties for both people and Pokémon. It had been a gift from Olivia, and she’d always kept it with her in case the day ever came where her Pokémon partner was gravely injured…but as she looked down at Guzma’s unconscious form, she knew that he needed it more. She didn’t care if she didn’t have enough information to decide whether he was a good person or not…she’d learned enough about him in the last few hours to know that he deserved her help.

Breaking the seal on the vial, she shook some of the small, rainbow-coloured scales out onto the deep bite wound on Guzma’s arm. A surge of relief washed through her when the wound began to knit closed, leaving smooth, unmarred flesh in its wake. The bones beneath the healed flesh were undoubtedly still broken, but for now, at least, she’d be able to reduce the amount of blood Guzma was losing. Shaking more of the scales into her open palm, she pressed her hand to the torn flesh on his neck, shuddering at the feel of the wound against her bare skin. Now that she was this close to him, the coppery smell of his blood was overwhelming…and yet, somehow, beneath it all, that haunting scent of the spring air before a storm still rose from his clothing.

Once the wound beneath her fingers had healed, she turned to the injury on his left leg, clenching her teeth and rolling her eyes heavenward when she realised she was going to have to pull his pants and boxers out of the way to access it. Steeling herself for the awkward task, she guided his slumped body down to the floor, laying him on his back and reaching for his waistband. “Y’know, I would’ve thought my first time taking off someone’s pants would’ve been a lot more romantic,” she muttered under her breath as she tugged the garments down, carefully peeling scraps of shredded fabric away from the wound. “If you pull through, I hope you know that I’m never going to forgive you for this.”

As she moved to shake some of the rainbow-coloured scales out over Guzma’s hip and outer thigh, she almost faltered, her stomach clenching against a wave of nausea. Whatever had attacked him, its claws had sunk deep, splitting the flesh and muscle wide open. Shifting forward on her knees, she shook half of the scales from the vial out onto the deep gashes, then reached out to cover the wounds with her hands. Shuddering, she tried to pull the edges of the torn flesh together, breaths coming quick and uneven as she struggled not to be sick. Closing her eyes tightly, she remained still, trying not to focus on the hot slickness of the blood beneath her hands as she prayed that she’d used enough of the magical scales to heal the damage. The deep lacerations began to knit closed, but the process was slower, this time.

She had to get him out of here. Even with the benefit of Tapu Lele’s healing scales, the amount of blood that he’d lost and the broken bones in his left forearm were issues that required professional medical attention—and based on the fact that he’d been left in the basement of Aether Paradise to die a gruesome death by poisoning, it was safe to say that he wasn’t going to get that attention here. Moreover, Burnet suspected that whoever had done this to him had meant for him to die, so it was logical to assume that helping him was going to put her own safety at risk…unless she could cover up the fact that she’d done so. Fortunately, since it was almost two in the morning, the lower levels were deserted, and she’d be able to get him onto her private boat at the docks without being seen. The security cameras would record her actions, of course…but that was something she’d have to worry about later. For now, she needed to clean up the evidence that he’d been here, and get him off of Aether Paradise.

Lifting her hands, which were tacky with blood, Burnet sighed in relief when she saw that the massive wound on Guzma’s leg had finally closed. Reaching for the waistband of his tattered boxers, she tugged them upwards, trying to avoid looking at his endowment as she did so. Of course, it was a hopeless endeavour, since she had to navigate the waistband of his boxers overtop of it to get them back in place.

“Well, I guess that answers any questions I might’ve had about you being secure in your masculinity,” she muttered, her cheeks flushing a bright pink as she tugged his pants up, as well. 

Moving to kneel at his shoulders, Burnet slid her arms under his upper back, grunting with effort as she struggled to return him to a sitting position. Those damn baggy clothes of his sure hid a lot, because now that she was trying to move him, she was finding out that he was built like a brick shithouse. “You’re lucky I’m a scuba diver,” she growled as she pushed him up, panting through her teeth as she reached down and grabbed the hems of his shirts. The skull logo on the outermost one was soaked through with red where it had been torn open, and Burnet grimaced as she pushed both shirts up to rest around his shoulders. Grabbing the vial of scales, she emptied more of its contents out onto a set of claw marks that had torn an ‘X’ from his shoulder blades down to his ribcage. As the wounds began to close, she huffed softly, trying not to notice the enticing expanse of solid muscle that began to reappear beneath the bloodstained skin. “Yeah, well, it’s a good thing you’re in such good shape, or you’d probably be dead right now,” she muttered grudgingly, once again cursing the awkwardness of this whole damned situation. “Thank Arceus you’re not conscious, because if you were rubbing this in my face right now, I might actually hit you.”

Guiding his shirts back down, Burnet carefully moved backwards again, laying Guzma down on the floor and reaching out to remove his broken glasses, grimacing when she saw that small fragments of the lens were embedded in his skin. She’d have to clean the wound before treating it, but her intuition told her that she didn’t have enough time. The wound on his forehead was minor, and it could be treated on the way to Akala Island…so for the time being, she’d leave the glasses where they were.

Rising to her feet, Burnet went to the sink and washed her hands, grabbing fistfuls of paper towels and soaking them with cleaning solution. Quickly cleaning up the blood trail in the hallway, she dropped the soiled towels down the chute for the incinerator, then hurried back to Guzma’s side. 

Though humping scuba tanks around certainly gave Burnet more upper body strength than the average woman, dragging the gang leader all the way to the docks on the lower level was a tall order. Guzma wasn’t a small man by any stretch of the imagination…although he was average in terms of height, the sheer amount of muscle definition she’d felt under her hands while she was working on him suggested that the stocky thug clocked in at over 180 pounds. There was no way she could get him to the boat on her own.

Biting her lower lip, Burnet considered her options, and her mind quickly alighted on a possible solution. Withdrawing one of the Poké Balls from her pocket, she spoke softly to it as her eyes drifted over Guzma’s bloodied face. “Golisopod…do you remember me from last night?” she breathed. “My name is Burnet…I gave you the Poké Bean. Guzma is hurt very badly and I’m not strong enough to lift him and take him somewhere safe. So I need your help…please, come out and lend me a hand.”

Closing her eyes, she sent up a brief prayer to the Tapu, then pressed the button on the front of the Poké Ball.

Revived and fully healed, the Golisopod emerged from the Pokéball with a roar, and Burnet leapt up to her feet, anxiously pressing her hands against its chest. “Shhh, shhh, be quiet!! You’ll put him in danger if you aren’t quiet!!”

The hulking creature froze, looking down at her and then looking to Guzma, a pained noise escaping its throat as it quieted. Pushing past her, it crouched at its Trainer’s side and rested one huge forearm against his chest. The sorrowful, keening whine that the Pokémon emitted was heartbreaking.

Carefully, Burnet approached, crouching in the bug’s line of sight so that it would know she wasn’t a threat. “You did your best to protect him,” she assured the creature gently, reaching out to rest a hand on one of its claws as she spoke. “And now we need to work together to keep him safe. My private boat is at the dock on the lower level, but I’m not strong enough to carry him there.” Gently, she stroked the claw beneath her fingertips. “Will you help me?”

Golisopod looked at her searchingly, then gave a single slow nod, shifting to one side and carefully scooping Guzma up into its massive arms. Cradling the gang leader against its body as though he weighed little more than a sleeping child, it rose to its feet.

“Thank you,” she breathed, relief surging through her at the sight. Rising to her feet as well, she nodded towards the door. “Let’s go.”


	10. Chapter 10

Once she had angled the nose of the boat towards Akala Island, Burnet locked the wheel and returned to the rear of the small cabin, where Golisopod was sitting with its massive body curled protectively around its Trainer. Heart aching at the sight, Burnet sighed, slipping out of her lab coat and retrieving a first aid kit along with a bottle of Fresh Water. Opening the bottle, she shook the rest of Tapu Lele’s scales out into the clear liquid, tightening the cap and giving the bottle a good shake. Grateful that the enclosed cabin blocked out most of the noise from the engine (as it meant that she wouldn’t have to shout to be heard), Burnet walked over to where Golisopod was seated with its back against the wall. Moving to crouch in front of the unhappy beast, she reached out carefully, resting her hand on top of one of its gargantuan claws.

“We’re about half an hour from the Island,” she explained. “And it looks like the water’s smooth enough for me to take care of that head wound,” she nodded towards Guzma’s forehead, where the broken glasses were still resting. “Can you set him down on the floor for me, so I can see what I’m doing?” 

The creature stared at her, a mournful noise issuing from its throat as it clutched Guzma tighter against its body, antennae lowering sorrowfully.

The sight drew a soft noise of compassion from Burnet’s throat, and she moved her hands up to stroke at the sides of the Bug’s face. “Hey, now…heyyyy…he’s going to pull through, okay? You know he will, because Guzma’s pretty tough, right?” She offered the creature an encouraging smile. “You’re his partner, so you know that better than anybody.”

Antennae twitching as it gazed at her, the creature seemed to consider her words, and finally it nodded. Slowly, the Golisopod uncurled its numerous arms, gently setting its Trainer down on the deck.

Removing a set of tweezers and some cotton balls from the first aid kit, Burnet carefully set to work. It wasn’t much different from tending to the wounds of a Pokémon…in fact, it was a bit easier, since Guzma didn’t have any fur or feathers to get in the way of what she was doing. Removing the shards of glass from the open cut, Burnet dropped them one by one into a nearby trash can, each small piece making a ‘tink’ sound when it struck the bottom. Once all of the visible pieces had been removed, she opened the bottle of Fresh Water and carefully flushed the area, murmuring a few soft words when the sensation made Guzma grimace faintly. Setting the bottle aside, she picked up a small towel, gently using it to wipe the blood from his face as the shallow wound knitted closed. 

Funny, how it wasn’t until this moment that she noticed he wore eyeshadow…and when she glanced up at Golisopod, she noted that the shade he was wearing was the same rich violet that framed the Bug Pokémon’s own dark eyes. Black, white, and purple…from the gang leader’s two-tone hair to the violet skull tattoos on his forearms, the only colours to be found on Guzma’s body were those that could be found on Golisopod’s. The only exceptions were the gold frame of his glasses, and the gold medallion around his neck. It was as though Guzma wanted himself and Golisopod to match one another…like he was showing off to the world that they were teammates. 

That sudden realisation touched Burnet so deeply that she had to look away, pressing the side of one wrist against her lips as she felt warm tears welling up in her eyes. “Damn it,” she cursed softly, drawing a shaky breath to get herself under control. “After all that macho, tough-guy nonsense,” she rasped, looking back at the Golisopod accusingly. “He’s just a big softie underneath all of that, isn’t he?”

Goslisopod’s eyes widened, antennae shooting straight up, as though Burnet had just spoken The Words Which Should Never Be Spoken. It quickly averted its gaze, as though it were afraid to betray Guzma’s confidence by confirming her suspicions.

For some reason, the Golisopod’s reaction made her laugh, if only because it suggested that ‘bro-dom’ was a pact that could cross the lines between species.

Groaning weakly, Guzma stirred, slowly blinking his eyes open and shifting his weight as though he was about to try and get up. The instant he moved, a burst of white-hot agony shot through his ribcage and his left arm, and he immediately fell back against Golisopod. “Fuck!” he growled, slamming his right fist against the deck and drawing a shuddering breath through his teeth.

“Easy,” Burnet soothed, reaching out and resting a hand on his chest. “You’re safe here, just…take it easy.”

Slowly, Guzma relaxed, the bones in his ribcage still throbbing painfully.

“Here,” Burnet said softly, holding the bottle of Fresh Water out to him. “Drink this. I healed your external injuries as best I could, but I didn’t want to risk giving this to you while you were unconscious, in case you choked.”

Groggily lifting his uninjured arm and taking the water bottle from her, Guzma lifted it to his lips and swallowed some of the cool liquid, puzzled by the sweetness of it. After a few more slow breaths, he shifted his gaze downward to his broken arm, perplexed when he noticed that the horrible bite wound that had caused it was gone. Casting a questioning gaze at his host, he nodded weakly towards the area. “How’d you do that?”

Blushing a little, Burnet cleared her throat and averted her gaze. “I, uh…had a vial of Tapu Lele’s scales,” she confessed, setting the tweezers aside and tossing the soiled cotton balls into the nearby trash can. “From what the kahunas told me, I knew they could heal external wounds, and if that if they were mixed into a liquid, they’d heal sickness when the liquid was ingested.” She shrugged. “I’m not sure if it’ll fix everything that’s been done to you, but…it shouldn’t hurt.”

Guzma blinked at her in absolute disbelief. The scales of Tapu Lele were an incredibly rare item coveted by every damn Trainer on every damn island in the Alola region. They were so rare you couldn’t even buy them on the black market. The fact that Burnet had had some in her possession was astonishing enough, but the fact that she’d used them on _him_ was damn near unbelievable.

Lowering his gaze to the bottle in his hand, he watched the shimmering flecks floating in the clear liquid, feeling both humbled and utterly confused. “Why…?”

Burnet lifted her head, giving him a questioning look. “Why what?”

“Why would you give something like this to someone like me?” he asked softly.

Seeing that he was genuinely confused by her act of kindness, Burnet considered him for a long moment, then smiled, giving her charge a gentle, playful nudge. “You mean a scumbag?” she teased softly, using the name she’d called him the first time he’d come into her lab to annoy her.

Blinking, Guzma met her eyes, seeing the amused expression on her face and smiling a little himself. “Yeah.”

Her playful smile faded slightly, and she looked down at his bloodstained shirt. “Because…I’m not sure that you really _are_ a scumbag,” she murmured. “At least…I don’t have enough evidence to say that you are.”

“Come on, Bright Eyes,” Guzma pressed, his tone dubious. “You aren’t the kind of girl who’d sneak a gangster out of Aether Paradise on the off-chance that he isn’t a shithead.”

Burnet laughed. Meeting his eyes again, she exhaled slowly, then looked up at Golisopod, who was gazing down at both of them in obvious concern. “Because a scumbag wouldn’t have been able to train him the way that you have.”

Glancing upward, Guzma blushed at the soft declaration, then cleared his throat and averted his gaze. “Yeah, well…don’t go telling anybody. I have a scumbag reputation to uphold.”

Burnet’s gaze floated back down to her injured guest, her pale serpentine eyes tracing the skull tattoo on his left forearm. “Guzma,” she said seriously, her eyes shifting back up to his face, “why is Team Skull hurting wild Pokémon? And don’t give me that ‘you’re a smart girl’ stuff this time.”

The gang leader sighed, figuring that since Lusamine had left him in the basement to die, it probably didn’t matter if he spilled his guts any more. “You know…the Team Skull kids love their Pokémon just as much as any of the other Trainers…even though the guys try not to show it too much,” he began, his eyes tracing Burnet’s beautiful features as he tried to keep his mind off of the pain in his body. “We just don’t believe in the Trials or the Island Challenges, or any of the other bullshit traditions the Kahunas shove down our throats. And while some of my Grunts might be big enough dicks to beat up on a wild Pokémon for no reason, it’s only ‘cause they’re messed up inside, and haven’t got themselves straight yet.” Guzma swallowed hard, grimacing when the pain in his ribs flared for a moment, then subsided. “But hurting wild ‘mons pays the bills, y’see? I’ve got two dozen mouths to feed, and Lusamine needs a steady flow of injured critters to care for. So…” he trailed off, shifting uncomfortably against Golisopod’s arm.

“So you worked out a deal,” Burnet murmured.

He nodded. “Until Lusamine picked us up, it was all just petty theft, minor vandalism…shit like that.”

“That’s still immoral, you know.”

The gang leader chuckled, grimacing again when it sent a spike of pain through his injured ribs. Turning his gaze on Burnet’s stunning serpentine eyes, Guzma offered up a charming smile. “Anybody ever tell you you’re really pretty when you’re being judgemental?”

Startled by the compliment, Burnet blushed, averting her gaze. “Not really.”

Wincing, Guzma made a soft noise of apology. “Sorry,” he grunted, his cockeyed grin somewhat self-depreciating. “I always told myself I wasn’t gonna hit on you.”

Surprised, Burnet looked back at him, her expression questioning as she met Guzma’s eyes. “Why?”

He blinked at her, considering her puzzled expression for a long moment before speaking. “I dunno,” he confessed absently. “I guess because as long as I was just annoying you, it wasn’t something worth security’s time. If I was hitting on you, they might take that a bit more seriously, y’know? Didn’t wanna risk it.”

“Why?” she pressed. “What was it about seeing me that was so important to you?”

He pressed his lips together, averting his gaze and uttering a soft, noncommittal grunt.

“Guzma, I had to strip your clothes off when I was cleaning your wounds, so I’ve literally just seen you naked. I don’t think any secret you could reveal to me is gonna top that.”

Snorting in amusement, the gangster grinned at her, that familiar light of smugness glimmering in the depths of his slate grey eyes. “You know, I could make a really dirty comment about that—”

“Please don’t.”

“I’m not gonna,” he laughed, wincing again when his ribs protested the movement. Taking a few shallow breaths as he waited for the pain to ebb, Guzma looked down at the bottle in his hand, the rainbow-coloured flecks in the water still shimmering faintly in the light. He didn’t really want to reveal the reason he kept coming by her lab to bug her, because he didn’t feel like being that emotionally vulnerable in a situation where he couldn’t physically escape if shit got awkward. So instead, he decided to reveal something a bit less emotional, but equally important. “I’m basically a bait dog,” he said softly.

Burnet frowned, not sure what to make of the cryptic statement. “A what?”

“A bait dog,” he grunted. “In dog fighting…it’s a dog you throw into the ring with the fighting dog you’re trying to train up. It doesn’t fight back when the bigger dog beats on it.”

Her frown of confusion deepened. “I don’t follow you.”

Shifting uncomfortably, Guzma grimaced, taking another pull at the shimmering water in hopes that it would help to dull the painful throbbing in his upper body. “She calls the damn things her ‘babies.’ They’re these ‘mons that…I dunno what Aether’s done to ‘em…I guess they were created in the labs to fight those Ultra Beasts that the legends talk about.”

A cold chill ran through Burnet’s blood, her eyes widening. In that single moment, the information he’d revealed to her had just recontextualized her involvement in the Aether Foundation in a way that was too frightening to contemplate.

“Like…super soldiers?”

He nodded. “Basically, yeah. I think they were called Type: Full or Type: Null or something. Problem is, the shit Aether’s done to ‘em made most of the poor bastards go insane. So she keeps the things in cryo 24/7…” Trailing off, Guzma averted his gaze. “Until she wants to bring ‘em out to play.” Slowly, he lifted the water bottle to his lips again, taking a few more swallows before lowering it to the floor. “That’s when I get a call to come to Aether.”

Burnet swallowed hard, her heart pounding uneasily against the inside of her ribcage. “But if these things were designed to fight Ultra Beasts, then why would they attack you? You aren’t an Ultra Beast…you aren’t even a Pokémon.” She gazed at him searchingly, her voice soft. “Are they just that unhinged?”

A bitter smile curved Guzma’s lips, and he shook his head. “No. You know that Ultra Aura gas that’s gonna power your wormhole machine someday?”

The words were like long, icy fingers curling around her heart. “Yes,” she replied softly.

“Well, she gets it from this critter called Cosmog,” he grunted, drawing one knee up slightly in an attempt to ease his discomfort. “She tortures the poor little bastard so it’ll give off the gas, then she takes the stuff and bottles it up. And every time I play bait dog, I get to watch that shit, because that’s what I get doused with before her ‘babies’ come out to play,” he explained with a faint grimace, his voice growing heavy with exhaustion. “I mean fuck, I can be a pretty hard guy sometimes, but even _I_ feel kinda bad listening to that thing crying…”

Burnet’s eyes had lowered to fix on the deck of the boat, and her fists clenched where they were resting on her thighs.

“Anyway, these Type: Full, or Type: Null things, whatever the hell they’re called…when they catch a whiff of that Cosmog’s Ultra Aura stuff, it drives ‘em batshit crazy. Makes ‘em wanna kill.” Grimacing in pain, he shifted again. “But to kill, they need a target.” 

Burnet exhaled a shaky breath, her voice soft. “And the target is you.”

“Yeah,” he replied. “She knows I won’t fight back ‘cause she pays the bills.” His gaze shifted up towards Golisopod, then back over to Burnet, who still hadn’t lifted her head. “Like I told you…I got two dozen homeless little punks to feed back in Po Town, and that shit ain’t cheap.”

Burnet clenched her eyes closed, devastated by everything she’d just been told. She didn’t really need to question whether or not it was true…a part of her had always wondered where the fuel for the initial wormhole trials had come from. And the fact that she hadn’t tried to find out back then made her stomach twist with guilt. “So that’s why you had new injuries whenever you came to see me,” she observed softly, lifting guilt-ridden eyes to meet Guzma’s. 

He nodded. 

“And you never brought your Pokémon out to fight those things, did you? You just took it.”

He nodded again.

Her brow furrowed slightly. “Until tonight.”

Guzma flinched, then averted his gaze. “Yeah.”

“What happened?”

The pale grey depths of his eyes darkened with a brewing storm, the muscles in his jaw flexing as he clenched his teeth. “Until tonight, she’d only ever let one of the damn things loose on me at a time,” he muttered. “But that little shit who took me downstairs told her you’d handed me something on deck, and she made me turn out my pockets.”

Burnet’s eyes widened, her heart seizing in her chest. 

Glancing at her and seeing her panicked expression, Guzma was quick to clarify. “She never saw the envelope with the code on it. I tossed that over the rail as soon as you gave it to me, so she didn’t see it…but I had to explain the money.” 

Though she was relieved that Guzma had disposed of the envelope with her security access code on it, concern still hovered in her yellow-green eyes. “And what did you tell her?”

He shrugged. “I told her you were sitting on the helipad and I was bored, so I egged you into a Pokémon battle. I didn’t think it was that big a deal…” Guzma trailed off, a faint shudder running through his body as his fingers tightened around the bottle of Fresh Water. “Boy, was I wrong. She went as apeshit as a goddamned Mankey. Told me if I was gonna put the safety of her ‘babies’ in jeopardy by broadcasting the fact that I was here, she may as well get rid of me. So she let ‘em all out at the same time.”

Burnet bit her lower lip, feeling a crushing weight of guilt pressing down on her. If she hadn’t demanded that battle on the helipad, Guzma probably wouldn’t have gotten hurt this badly. “So…you had no choice but to battle.”

“I didn’t battle!” he snarled, the plastic of the water bottle crunching as his fist tightened around it. 

Jumping in surprise at the outburst, the pale-haired scientist gave him an owlish look of confusion.

Seeing that he’d startled her, Guzma clenched his teeth, forcing himself to relax. After a moment, he continued. “I didn’t call ‘em,” he clarified, “…they came out on their own.” He took a few slow breaths, his agonized expression having nothing to do with his current physical state. “I kept trying to return the stupid bastards to their Poké Balls, and they wouldn’t listen…” He clenched his eyes shut, his demeanour stricken as the memory played vividly through his mind. “One by one, they just…started dropping…I kept yelling ‘go back in, these things only want me,’ but they kept fighting…until they couldn’t fight any more.” Guzma was silent for a long time, drawing slow, pained breaths. “Once my ‘mons were outta the way…the Nulls came after me. But by that point, the stuff she’d doused me in was wearing off…and they were tired. So they didn’t have the juice to kill me.” Slowly, his stormy grey eyes slipped open, and his gaze shifted down to his left forearm. “At least, that’s what I thought…then I figured out that the one that busted my arm had poisoned me.” 

For a long time, the only sound in the cabin was the purr of the boat’s engine and the light thumping of the water against the hull as the small craft continued on its path towards Akala. And while Burnet wasn’t exactly sure when the tears had started to run down her cheeks, she was pretty sure they weren’t going to be stopping any time soon.

Noticing when one of the crystalline beads of moisture fell from the edge of Burnet’s jaw to land on the back of one of her clenched fists, Guzma cursed softly, forcing himself to sit up despite the tsunami of pain it caused in his entire body. “Hey,” he called.

“I’m sorry,” she bleated, not lifting her head. “If I hadn’t asked you to battle…” She trailed off, drawing a quivering breath and shaking her head.

Frowning, Guzma reached out with his good arm, cupping the side of her face in his hand and brushing a tear away with the pad of his thumb. “Hey—damn it, don’t you go crying over a guy like me,” he said sternly. “I told you, Lusamine’s a psychopath. It was only a matter of time until I did something to piss her off bad enough that she would’ve done this anyway.”

Burnet shook her head, refusing to accept the comfort he was offering.

Growling low in his throat, Guzma took a firm hold of her jaw, forcing the Professor’s chin up so she’d meet his eyes. “You listen to me, Bright Eyes…I’m telling you, it was only a matter of time. You think it’s a fluke that her so-called ‘paradise’ was built in international waters, where the law can’t get to her? That she stuck the whole goddamn thing just outside the legal jurisdiction of all four Islands, just for shits and giggles?” 

Again, the gang leader’s words were like cold fingers curling around her heart, and Burnet swallowed hard as another tear burned down her cheek. That first day that they’d met, he’d been completely right when he’d said that all of the evidence had always been right there in front of her…she just hadn’t been able to see it.

“I’m telling you,” Guzma continued, “that what happened to me tonight isn’t your fault. I was nothing more than a bait dog for her crazy-ass pets, and it wasn’t gonna be long until she got bored enough to do what she did anyway.” His expression was intensely serious as he spoke, grey eyes dark as he tried to convey the truth of his situation. “I mean, you _know_ that shit was escalating. You saw me getting more and more busted up every time I came to your lab.”

Burnet gazed into Guzma’s eyes, drawing a slow, shaky breath and letting it out slowly. Finally, she nodded, sniffling weakly.

Relaxing a little at her nod, the gang leader allowed a hint of a wry smile to touch his lips. “And it’s just like you said,” he added. “I’m a scumbag. Aether’s just one more messy scheme I’ve gotten myself mixed up in, one more I’ll have to get myself out of.” He relaxed his grip on her jaw, moving his bloodstained fingers up to wipe away another tear as it fell. Guzma wasn’t sure why, but he loved the way the touch of his fingers left a light streak of crimson on her pale cheek. Something about it felt…right, somehow. Shifting his gaze back to her mesmerizing yellow-green eyes, Guzma took her chin between his thumb and forefinger, then gave it a gentle, playful wiggle. “The most important thing for me to do right _now_ is to get _your_ ass outta this mess.”

Pulling away from the light grip on her chin, Burnet reached up and rubbed the moisture from her cheeks, unaware of the faint crimson streak on the left one. “Right,” she breathed, sniffling and then nodding resolutely. “You’re right…”

Relieved to see a little of her usual moxie back in place, Guzma slowly leaned back, grateful when Golisopod reached out and carefully guided him down so he didn’t hurt himself again. “I need to know everything that happened after I blacked out.” 

Swallowing hard, Burnet cleared her throat. “Right,” she acknowledged more steadily, lifting her eyes to meet his gaze again. “Well…before I brought you to the boat, I cleaned up the blood trail leading to my office and dropped the rags in the incinerator,” she explained. “I managed to get you to the boat without being seen, but…there’ll be security footage for the lower levels. And…there’ll be footage of me taking your Poké Balls upstairs to the main floor reception desk.”

Guzma nodded, feeling like a complete asshole for unintentionally putting Burnet in danger like this. “I can get it wiped.”

“How?” she balked, eyes narrowing at him. “If the person you sneak in there gets caught—”

“He won’t get caught,” Guzma grunted. “He’s done this before.”

Burnet’s eyes narrowed. “And if he does get caught?”

“Lusamine’s not gonna kill her own kid,” he said curtly, holding out his right hand. “Now gimme your phone.”

For a long moment, Burnet just stared at him. “Gladion…?” she murmured, awestruck that the gang leader seemed to know where Lusamine’s oldest child had disappeared to. 

“Yeah,” Guzma grunted. “A few months ago, the kid stole one of the Type: Nulls from Lusamine’s lab. Pretty sure he got his hands on the only one that wasn’t batshit insane, too. Anyway, he wiped the security footage on the way out so his psychopath mom wouldn’t be able to find him.” He snapped his fingers at her. “Phone.”

Shaking herself, Burnet reached over to her discarded lab coat, pulling her cell phone out of the inside pocket and handing it to him. “But…but how do you know where he is?”

“Where do you think he ended up when he ran away from home?” Guzma retorted plainly, as though the answer were obvious. “Two dozen little homeless punks, remember?”

Burnet just stared at him blankly, too shocked by the revelation of Gladion’s involvement in this whole debacle to think of anything to say.

Since he didn’t really have anything to hide at this particular moment in time, Guzma put the handset on speakerphone and set it down on the deck, not surprised to hear the line pick up after a couple of rings. Gladion didn’t really sleep much, from what little he’d seen of him. “Hey, Kid,” he said by way of greeting. “I need a favour.”

There was a moment of silence, then a soft grunt. “Go ahead.”

“Your bitch mother kicked my ass, and I got an unexpected assist from a chick at Aether. She needs to be kept safe, you get me?”

Another brief silence. “How many hours of footage?”

“Call it six to be safe. All floors.”

This time, the silence was longer. The kid was obviously thinking, and Guzma stayed quiet while he did so. Finally, Gladion spoke. “If it’s for you…fine. But I’ll be hot-wiring a boat to get there, and dropping it off in Po Town when I’m done.”

“There’ll be a tear-down crew on the dock by sunrise,” Guzma grunted. “Access code for the lower level is 4-3-6-2-4.”

Another pause. Then, “How the hell did you get an access code for the basement labs?”

A sly grin curved Guzma’s lips, and he glanced over at Burnet. “By being a scumbag.” 

Burnet rolled her eyes at him, and Gladion snorted. “Anything else?”

“Yeah,” the gang leader grunted. “Stop being such a stranger to Po Town, you little shit. You keep acting like you’re too good for us and I’m gonna put some new holes in those ratty-ass clothes you like so much.”

There was a soft noise at the other end of the line that might’ve been a laugh, and Gladion hung up. 

Hanging up, Guzma looked to Burnet and nodded. “He’ll take care of it.”

She nodded back, watching as Guzma returned his attention to the phone, dialing another number and putting it to his ear this time. As the gang leader made arrangements to have the hot-wired boat dismantled in the morning, Burnet rose to her feet, moving towards the helm and taking the wheel as Akala Island came into view.


	11. Chapter 11

_Three days later…_

Professor Burnet hadn’t seen Guzma since the night he’d almost died. As soon as she’d handed him over to a doctor, he’d told her to get back to Aether Paradise, because it’d be pretty damn suspicious if she didn’t show up for work in the hours after Guzma had been spirited away from the Island without a trace. As much as she’d wanted to stay and make sure he was all right, she’d acquiesced, because when it came down to it, he was right.

However, after a couple of days, Burnet had put in a call to Wicke to get some time off, claiming that she’d been burning the midnight oil for a bit too long and really ought to take a couple of days off to rest. Wicke, being the sweetheart that she was, didn’t ask any questions. After all, anybody who worked at Aether Paradise knew that Burnet was constantly engaged in work on some project or another.

Returning to her home on Akala Island, Burnet had puttered around and played with Munchlax for most of the afternoon, taking a long walk on the beach before returning to the house to make dinner. As she sat alone at the table (Munchlax, who had already devoured his fair share of food, was currently passed out on the couch behind her), she glanced towards the sliding glass doors that led out onto her back porch. Beyond it lay a small strip of beach, and now that night had fallen, the lights of Ula’Ula Island were visible across the water, twinkling faintly in the distance. 

Ula’Ula…she’d recently learned that that was where Po Town was. The town that Guzma and Gladion had both mentioned…the town where Team Skull was headquartered.

_Guzma…_

Absently pushing a half-eaten piece of deep-fried Poni Radish around on her plate, Burnet sighed. The fact that she hadn’t seen Guzma on Aether Paradise since Lusamine had tried to kill him was a good thing…it meant that he hadn’t been called back for more torture.

Of course…it also meant that he wasn’t coming by her lab to bother her any more.

Slowly, Burnet’s hand drifted up to touch the left side of her face. Hours after turning him over to the doctor and returning to Aether Paradise, she’d noticed that Guzma had left a faint smear of his blood on her cheek. He’d left it there on purpose, without saying a thing about it…left it there for her to find. Which was such a strange thing to do…

There was still so much more she wanted to know about him. She couldn’t help it…the few things she’d learned from interacting with him had sparked her curiosity, and the fact that he was attractive and seemed to like antagonizing her didn’t hurt, either. As much as she hated to admit it, at some point, she’d started finding their banter enjoyable…and now that he was gone, she was missing it. It was a frustrating, dangerous situation to be in.

Then again, if there was one thing Guzma had shown her, it was that she was in danger every day she set foot on Aether Paradise. Now that she knew about the Type: Full Project, and now that she suspected some of the real reasons behind Lusamine’s funding of Ultra Wormhole research, any illusions that Burnet might have had about living a normal, danger-free life had been dispelled. She was in deep, and would be for as long as she continued at her current job.

Cutting a hunk off of the Poni Radish, Burnet popped it into her mouth and chewed it thoughtfully. 

So, if she was already living every day in danger, then what difference did it make if she lived a little more dangerously? She knew where Po Town was now, and she was pretty sure that Guzma was there. Plus, if she went in on a Ride Pokémon, she’d be able to get out of there quickly if things got hairy…so why not go and visit? Even if it was just to see the look on Guzma’s face when she showed up on his doorstep…

Smirking as she rose to her feet, Burnet deposited her dirty dishes into the sink, then walked over to a nearby closet and pulled out a windbreaker. Sliding it on and then slipping outside, she walked over to where her Ride Pokémon, a coal-black Charizard named Scheherazade, was curled up.

“I feel like being a little reckless tonight,” she confessed to the dragon, smiling widely when the creature opened its eyes and uttered an inquisitive grunt. “There’s this guy I’m kind of…well, curious about.”

Lifting its head, the dragon peered at her, then narrowed its eyes.

Blushing a little under that intent gaze, she huffed softly. “Okay, there’s this guy I’m kind of _interested_ in.”

Snorting as a grin curved its muzzle, the Charizard stretched its leathery wings and rose to its feet.

“He lives in Po Town…on Ula’Ula Island.”

Eyes widening, the dragon snuffed at her, a puff of smoke curling from her nostrils. She didn’t seem as impressed by that particular revelation.

“That’s why I want you to be the one to take me,” Burnet laughed, reaching out and patting Scheherazade’s nose. “If it looks like there’ll be trouble, I know you’ll get me out of there safely, right?”

Growling dubiously, the dragon lowered one wing to allow Burnet to climb into the saddle, although she still didn’t look terribly impressed about the whole situation.

“I know, I know,” she muttered as she climbed into the saddle. “I’m probably being horribly naïve, just like I was before I started running into him…” Burnet trailed off, looking down at the front of the saddle for a moment. When she looked up, the Charizard was looking back at her over its shoulder with a calm expression on its face. She smiled a little, in spite of herself. “I just really want to see him. I shouldn’t…I mean, he’s gruff and thuggish and totally frustrating…but…”

Snorting in what seemed to be amusement, the Charizard turned to face forward, then launched itself into the air, not allowing Burnet to finish her sentence.


	12. Chapter 12

The Professor was grateful for the clear weather over Ula’Ula as her Ride Pokémon soared towards the northern half of the island. From what little she’d heard, she was pretty sure that Po Town lay in that direction, and it wasn’t long before her suspicions were confirmed. Though, if Burnet were being completely honest, she hadn’t expected Po Town to be as daunting as it was…the entire area was surrounded by thick cement walls, and it looked as though the only way into the town from the ground level was through a single, massive gate. A quick circle over the fortifications revealed that there were no lights to be seen within the towering walls…although Burnet supposed that made sense. Why should Ula’Ula supply power to a town that had been taken over by a gang? 

There also appeared to be little movement on the ground, outside the half dozen people who were manning barricades on the road leading up to the large mansion at the head of the main street. However, when Burnet looped out over the bluffs that stood just outside of the gate to Po Town, she noticed a large crowd gathered around a blazing fire.

 _I’m crazy for doing this,_ she thought to herself, then nudged her mount in an unspoken request to land. Her Charizard descended to a patch of bare earth about a dozen yards away from the gathering, landing with a dull _thud_ and tucking her wings in against the sides of her body. 

As Burnet climbed out of the saddle, she noticed Guzma at the edge of the gathering, seated next to a girl with long pink and yellow pig tails.

There was a moment of hushed silence, and then one of the Grunts near the fire pointed at her.

“Yo, it’s a shiny Charizard!!” he cried, and a group of them immediately leapt to their feet, grabbing their Poké Balls.

“Get it!!” another cried as the group ran towards her.

When Burnet’s hood fell back as she attempted to scramble back onto Scheherazade, Guzma immediately leapt to his feet and ran after them. “Back off!!” he shouted. “Don’t you lay a hand on her, you dispshits, or I’ll kick every one of your asses!” Despite his injuries, Guzma managed to pounce on the group just before they reached her.

Looking back from where she had one foot in the Charizard’s stirrup, Burnet saw Guzma with two grunts headlocked under each arm (despite the fact that his left forearm was in a cast), and a foot planted firmly in the face of a fifth. She lifted a hand to her mouth to stifle her laughter, because the picture he presented was reminiscent of a male Pyroar trying to wrangle a horde of overly rowdy cubs.

“She’s a friend, you numskulls!” he growled down at them. “You got that, or am I gonna have to beat it into you?” Releasing the group as they effusively whined out apologies, he glared at them and pointed back towards the campfire with his uninjured arm. “Scram!”

Taking her foot out of the stirrup, Burnet smiled, the firelight that was reflected in her eyes making them glow the colour of warm honey. “Well, that was quite an enthusiastic greeting,” she teased, her voice rich with amusement.

Guzma rolled his eyes and then grimaced in pain, lifting his right hand to rub at his injured ribs, which he’d been just been grinding his minions’ heads into. “Yeah, they get pretty amped up sometimes,” he muttered. “Most of ‘em have never even _seen_ a shiny, let alone gotten this close to one,” he explained, jerking his head towards her Ride Pokémon. 

Burnet smiled, reaching out to stroke the Charizard’s neck. “What can I say? I like to ride in style.” 

Guzma gave an amused snort in response to the comment, although his smile quickly faded, wariness flitting through the depths of his dark eyes. “What’re you doing here, Bright Eyes? Po Town isn’t exactly a safe place for a girl like you.”

Burnet’s honey-coloured eyes narrowed, and for once, it was _her_ grin that was smug. Resting a hand on her hip, she leaned in close, lowering her voice so that none of Guzma’s entourage would overhear her. “You’re talking to the girl who dragged _your_ unconscious ass out of Aether Paradise, and then kept working there afterwards.” She tossed her head, the firelight playing over her snow-white hair. “Your minions don’t scare me.”

The daring reply instantly heated Guzma’s blood, and he clenched his fists in his pockets, grinning ferally as he savoured the Professor’s seductive display of confidence. “Heh…guess I can’t argue that one, can I?” he mused with a shrug, his eyes slowly and appreciatively raking her form. 

Where that look had once made Burnet feel repulsed, it now felt rewarding, because she no longer felt like Guzma was a cat eyeballing a tasty little mouse. Now, she felt like he was a tomcat sizing up a prospective queen, and something about that made her feel…well, kind of badass. If someone had told her two weeks ago that someday she’d feel good about earning the respect of a gang lord, she would’ve thought them insane…but here she was.

Suddenly getting the sense that they were being watched, Guzma whirled around and glared at the Grunts who were looking towards them with obvious interest. Caught, they all looked away, pretending to pick up whatever conversations they’d been having when Burnet’s arrival had interrupted their merrymaking. The only one who kept looking their way was Plumeria, who raised a hand and made a dismissive gesture, as if to say ‘you go on, I got this.’

Relaxing, Guzma turned back to his unexpected guest, nodding towards the bluffs. “Let’s go talk somewhere private.”

Burnet’s Charizard accompanied them as they walked away from the campfire, climbing a small ledge that opened out onto a large plateau covered in sun-browned grasses. Following a well-beaten path, the three of them climbed up onto another small plateau that was covered in a lush carpet of greenery. It was here that Guzma stopped, and Burnet walked past him a little ways, taking a moment to appreciate the view of the ocean from where they were standing. 

Snorting softly, Scheherazade curled up on the grass nearby, her eyes remaining open and fixed on her two human companions.

Turning back towards Guzma, Burnet slipped her hands into the pockets of her coat, suddenly realising that she hadn’t thought of anything to say. “I was surprised to see that your gang’s parked so close to a police station,” she observed offhandedly, nodding towards the foot of the hill where the station sat in darkness, only visible because lamplight shone through a single, narrow window.

Guzma snorted. “What, _Nanu?_ ” he scoffed, lips curving into a wild grin. “If that guy’s a cop, then I’m a freakin’ choirboy.”

Burnet quirked a brow. “Oh? And what’s that supposed to mean?”

His eyes narrowed, chin tilting up in that typical smug way of his. “You’re a smart girl—”

“And you’re a scumbag,” she cut him off with a laugh. “But that doesn’t answer my question.”

Still grinning, Guzma gazed into her eyes, taking a long moment to savour the way that Burnet’s disdain for him had bloomed into this mildly affectionate antagonism.

“Well?”

Guzma shrugged one shoulder idly. “Nanu’s corrupt as hell,” he explained. “As long as the gang stays in Po Town, he couldn’t care less what we do.”

“But you _don’t_ stay in Po Town,” Burnet observed matter-of-factly.

Guzma tensed, and his smile faded a little as he averted his gaze, looking down towards the police station at the bottom of the hill. “ _I_ don’t stay in Po Town, no…” he acknowledged, the warm glow from the flames on the Charizard’s tail playing across his features. “But for the most part, the gang stays on its own turf, and the cops leave us alone.”

“I see,” Burnet mused, almost regretting the way that her comment had banked the predatory fire in Guzma’s eyes.

“So, why did you come here?” he repeated his question from earlier, his cool grey eyes drifting back to scan her face.

“Well…I wanted to make sure you were all right,” she replied awkwardly, nodding towards the cast on his left arm. “I haven’t seen you since…” she trailed off, looking away and shaking her head. When Guzma didn’t say anything in response, she began to fidget, huffing softly and shoving her hands into the pockets of her coat. “And I guess I just…got used to you interrupting my work, or something,” she muttered.

A sly grin crept onto Guzma’s face, as slow as cold molasses. Despite everything that had changed between them, the chick was still a shitty liar, and he still loved that about her. “Look me in the eyes and say that,” he teased.

Burnet turned a petulant scowl on him, clenching her fists as the thug just stood there, smirking. Eventually she let out a frustrated sigh, shaking her head in resignation. “I don’t know why I’m here,” she confessed peevishly. “I don’t know why I want to see you. I just do.”

Caught off guard by her honesty, Guzma blinked at her, a hint of colour creeping into his cheeks. “Yeah, well…like I said, you’re a smart girl. I’m sure you’ll figure that one out, too.”

Stung by his blunt rejection, Burnet frowned, then made a soft noise of irritation. “Yes, I’m sure I will. Maybe I’ll figure it out on the ride home,” she growled, turning towards her ride Pokémon and moving to climb into the saddle.

Immediately realising that he’d fucked up, Guzma dove forward, catching her by the arm. “Wait! That wasn’t—”

She turned a withering gaze on him, gratified when he jerked his hand away and took a step back, wincing and lowering his gaze. “Wasn’t _what,_ Guzma?”

For the first time since she’d met him, those normally smug grey eyes showed a faint flicker of vulnerability when he raised them to look at her. “That wasn’t what I meant, Bright Eyes,” he said softly.

Resting a hand on one hip, she glared at him. “Yeah, well, I bet your Golisopod’s really proud of you. You’ve managed to turn his Emergency Exit into a conversation style.”

The gangster’s eyes widened in shock. Of all the verbal pot shots she’d taken at him, that was the first one that had actually landed.

“You know, it’s a real mystery to me,” she continued, “how you trusted me enough to drag your half-dead carcass into my lab at one in the morning so I could put you back together like a broken Exeggutor, and now you don’t trust me enough to lose the ‘tough guy’ act and just be honest with me.” Tossing her head, Burnet threw a foot into the stirrup and swung herself up into the Charizard’s saddle. “Every day, my work involves tackling some of the most complex puzzles of the known universe…and having to devote that kind of energy to dealing with another human being just because he likes being obtuse…well, that just doesn’t appeal to me.” Nudging her heel gently against the Charizard’s side, she shifted her weight forward in the saddle as the dragon got up and prepared to take flight. “So if it’s all the same to you, Guzma, I’ll just save my puzzle-solving skills for the lab. At least there, I’m getting _paid_ to be frustrated.”

“Wait—”

“No,” she snapped, refusing to look at him as the Charizard spread its wings. 

“Burnet, wait!”

Freezing when she heard him use her name for the first time, the Professor slowly turned her head and looked down at him. He was gazing up at her pleadingly, with one hand slightly outstretched. 

“Yes, Guzma?” she inquired slowly, one brow rising.

The gang leader drew his hand back slightly, clenched his fist, then made a noise of frustration, reaching up with both hands to tug at his own hair. “Dammit…that wasn’t why I came to your lab that night!”

Shifting her weight back into the saddle, Burnet kept her gaze on him. “I’m listening.”

Guzma’s breaths were coming in uneven pants as he stared at the ground, his wide eyes making him look like an animal with its leg caught in a metal trap—and much like that animal, he’d just been faced with the realisation that the only way out of the trap’s jaws was to cause himself pain. Twisting his fingers into his pale locks, he clenched his eyes shut and growled through his teeth. “You were the only one on that damned island I _knew_ wouldn’t cover up the fact that I’d died.”

Gazing down at him, Burnet said nothing, the songs of multitudinous Kricketot unfurling in the silence between them as the Charizard’s tail flames flickered in the cool night air. Slowly, the Professor’s eyes shifted to the cast pressed against the side of Guzma’s face, and she noticed that it was so thoroughly covered in signatures, messages, and little stylized drawings that barely a speck of white was showing through. Two dozen little homeless punks…and every single one of them probably thought that Guzma was the Meowth’s meow. If she could only see a little more of the man that they got to see, maybe he wouldn’t frustrate her so damn much. Burnet shifted back in the saddle again, and the Charizard relaxed, folding its wings against the sides of its body.

Guzma’s eyes slipped open, and he continued to stare wide-eyed at the ground, his breaths gradually slowing as the moments he’d spent curled up on the floor of Burnet’s lab that night—moments that he’d thought would be his last—played back through his mind. When he spoke again, his voice was distant. “You were the only one I knew wouldn’t stick my bugs in a lab and cut on them,” he confessed, slowly uncurling his fingers from his hair and lowering his hands to his sides. 

Burnet winced at the words, but she remained silent.

“You were the only one…who might’ve eventually come back here to Po Town to tell Plumeria and the gang what happened to me.” 

Guzma stood there for a long time, staring blankly at the ground. When he finally lifted his eyes, they were haunted, the depths as grey as the ashes at the bottom of a funerary urn. “It wasn’t because I trusted you, Bright Eyes,” he said softly. “It was because I knew you’d do the right thing. Out of all the people working in that hell hole…” He trailed off, standing there and gazing up at her the way a death row inmate might look up at their executioner…fully expectant of being killed, but somewhere within him, still possessing the tiniest grain of hope that he might receive mercy.

That haunted, vulnerable look soothed Burnet’s earlier irritation, and she averted her gaze, looking down at her hands where they rested on the edge of the saddle. When she’d found him bleeding and poisoned on the floor of her lab that night, it had finally ripped away the convenient veil that allowed her to work at Aether in blissful ignorance. Moreover, learning of Gladion’s connection to Team Skull, and the reason why he’d run to them in the first place, had also revealed more of the organization’s dark underbelly. And now, as Guzma gazed up at her, revealing how helpless he’d truly been in the bowels of that massive, corrupt machine, she almost felt too ashamed to meet his eyes. When she finally broke the silence between them, her own voice was distant and soft.

“All those times that you visited me…and that time that you told me about Faba’s Pokémon…” The eyes that she turned on Guzma now were a rich, ancient amber, the flickering light of the Charizard’s tail giving a solemn cast to their sorrowful depths. “You were trying to get me to see how corrupt the Aether Foundation was becoming, weren’t you?” 

He nodded.

“You thought that if I could just see it, I might do something about it.”

He nodded again.

Humbled, Burnet made a soft, pained noise, looking down at her hands again. “Guzma…that’s a lot of faith to put in someone you don’t really trust.”

He flinched, then averted his gaze, saying nothing.

The songs of the Kricketot continued to swell around them, and the Charizard snorted softly, her muzzle parting on a jaw-cracking yawn. Slowly, Burnet shifted out of the saddle and dropped soundlessly to the ground, walking over to where Guzma was standing. Gazing at him for a long moment, she slowly reached out and touched his cheek, resting her palm against the side of his face. Guzma allowed the contact, but he didn’t lift his eyes to meet her gaze.

“I don’t really know if I’m worthy of that kind of faith,” she confessed softly. 

The gang leader’s brows drew together at the words, and when he finally did lift his head, it was to search her features with grey eyes that were as storm-swept as the sea. But when he met her gaze, Guzma was surprised to see that her expression was resolute, like it was that time when she’d asked him to battle her back on Aether Paradise. 

“Aether’s so big…and I’m just one person.”

His heart missed a beat as the monumental weight of her words pressed down on him. Guzma held his breath, waiting to see what she’d say next, fully expecting her to cop out…because honestly, why wouldn’t she? She had a career to worry about, an entire life’s work hanging in the balance. And with a psychopath like Lusamine at the helm of the Aether Foundation, and the organization’s clandestine connections stretching out across Alola like the tentacles of a massive, poisonous beast, who could blame her if she refused to shoulder that kind of burden? Like she said…she was just one person.

The expectant look of resignation in Guzma’s eyes made Burnet smile sympathetically, and she lowered the hand that was resting on his cheek, placing it flat against the center of his chest. For a few seconds, she let the warmth of his body sink into her palm, measuring the rapid beat of his heart beneath her fingertips. Then, she gave him a playful shove. 

Not having expected the move, Guzma stumbled backwards and then caught himself, blinking at her in obvious confusion.

Burnet chuckled, a faint sparkle in her eyes as she grinned at him. “I get it now…why you said your troubles were above my pay grade.” Turning, she climbed up into the Charizard’s saddle, her chin tilted up at a confident angle as she gave the gang leader a conspiratorial smile. “But they’re not as far above my pay grade as you might think.”

Guzma scowled, rubbing at his chest where she’d shoved him. “What the hell’s that supposed to mean?”

Nudging the Charizard gently with her heel, Burnet shifted forward in the saddle, her eyes glittering with smug amusement. “You’re a smart man, Guzma,” she purred, the dragon’s wings spreading wide with a sharp, leathery snap. “You’ll figure it out.” 

Lifting an arm to shield his eyes from the cloud of dust thrown up by the dragon’s departure, Guzma watched as Burnet soared out over the sea, following her movements until the pinprick light of the Charizard’s tail was no longer visible. And as he stared out at the distant shimmer of lights marking the border between Akala Island and the ocean, a slow, wild grin spread across his face.


	13. Epilogue

It was approximately eight days later when Team Skull received new orders. 

Apparently, Lusamine’s daughter had somehow gotten her hands on a restricted access code, and had used it to sneak into the basement level of Aether Paradise. While she was down there, she’d managed to liberate a Pokémon called Cosmog—the one whose gases would be used to power Lusamine’s Ultra Wormhole machine—and escape with it. Now, Lillie was traveling in the company of a strong young Trainer who’d just been brought to the Alola Region by Professor Kukui, one of Professor Burnet’s associates.

When that news had reached him, Guzma had thrown a party that tore the roof off of Po Town.

Upon discovering that the gang leader was still alive, Lusamine’s only reaction was to make an offhanded comment about him being well-suited to training bugs, since he appeared to have the attributes of a cockroach. However, because she now needed Team Skull’s help in locating her daughter and the missing Ultra Beast, she didn’t make any attempt to rectify her mistake. And since she no longer had the time (or the requisite gases from Cosmog) to torture Guzma any more, for the time being, she settled on assigning him to tasks outside of Aether Paradise.

That was of little consequence to Guzma, however. Word through the grapevine was that the kid traveling with Lillie was strong…maybe even strong enough to take down Lusamine. Of course, Guzma had been ordered by Aether’s President to take the brat out…but the gang leader was shrewd, and he knew there was no way that the bitch would be able to tell the difference between a battle meant to squash an upcoming Trainer, and one that was meant to make them stronger, get them ready to face a bigger, badder boss. 

Oh, he’d play his part like a good boy…he always did. He’d talk some smack to the kid and make them think he was Big, Bad Guzma…act like he was upset when he “lost”…he’d even provoke the kid into running his gang outta Po Town, if that’s what it took to make the young Trainer stronger. But he’d never let on that that’s what he was doing.

No, he’d just play his part, and by the time the kid finally got to Lusamine, they’d be packing enough heat to take down every bigshot in the Aether Foundation…including her.

Of course, there was the off chance that Team Skull might blunder into getting their hands on that Cosmog, in which case he’d have to hand it over to the Queen of the Psychopaths. Then she’d use the sorry-ass critter to open an Ultra Wormhole and go straight through it on her wacko quest to fight something called Necrozma.

And being a psychopath, she’d go through it without backup, commanding Guzma to follow at her heels like the obedient lapdog she thought he was. And he would. Ohhhh, he’d leap through that damn wormhole with a fucking smile on his face, because once he was on the other side of it, there’d be nobody to stop him from putting his hands around her throat and strangling her to death. Sure, he’d only be destroying the head of the giant serpent called Aether, and the body was gonna keep thrashing around in the aftermath…but eventually, it’d die. And then Alola, Team Skull, and everybody else Guzma gave a shit about, would all be a hell of a lot safer.

For now, all he had to do was keep his Grunts out on the road, duking it out with the up-and-coming Trainer whenever they could, to help the kid level up their ‘mons. And when the time was right, Kukui would bring the kid to Malie Garden for a throwdown.

He couldn’t wait.

THE END


End file.
